


Siren's Song

by Rheehemoth



Category: Bleach
Genre: Drama, F/M, Fluff, Romance, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-27
Updated: 2015-11-03
Packaged: 2018-04-28 11:23:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 62,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5088863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rheehemoth/pseuds/Rheehemoth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Siren was suddenly made Captain of the Ninth Division after spending 30 years in the real world. Her Lieutenant Hisagi Shuhei finds out that she is a vizard. Siren learns to confide in him as she goes through trying to be accepted as the new captain in the Gotei 13. As feelings develop past their professional relationship and friendship, will they risk everything to be together?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Nothing To Nine

  **Chapter 1 – Nothing to Nine**  


"I call this Captains meeting to order." boomed the resonating voice of the Captain-Commander, Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni, and the 9 bodies of various sizes and shapes assorted in two lines in the large room stood a little straighter.

"I have called you here to discuss the vacancies of three captain's positions. We must attempt to fill these spots. Do any of you know of anyone who could fill these positions or anyone that has achieved bankai?" he asked the other captains.

The cool, calm voice of Sixth Division Captain, Byakuya Kuchiki sounded through the room, "Sixth Division Lieutenant, Abarai Renji has achieved bankai, but I do not believe he has completely mastered it yet. Also, I would advise that if we were to consider giving him a position as a captain, that we wait until he has more experience and training."

Yamamoto was silent as he thought this over for a moment and the other captains did as well. Everyone knew that Renji had achieved bankai for a while now, and was a formidable opponent, but maybe not at captain level just yet.

"I agree. But we will keep him in consideration, and watch his progress. Is there anyone else who has any suggestions?" Yamamoto said as he looked around at the other captains in the room.

Two of the oldest captains looked directly at each other, and one gave the other a single nod before he spoke up.

"I know of someone who would quite suitable for the job. She has mastered bankai, and is very intelligent. I think that she would make a very good captain" the Thirteenth Division Captain, Ukitake Jushiro said, in his usual kind voice.

"Why did you not mention this earlier, Ukitake?" Yamamoto said with a scolding tone.

"Well, there's a good reason for that. I believed that she wouldn't be accepted because of...  _what_ she is." he said slowly, with slight reluctance.

"And what is that?" asked the younger sounding voice of Tenth Division Captain, Hitsugaya Toshiro.

"...she is a vizard..."

#

Siren was sitting on a rooftop, bored out of her mind. There had been no hollows show up today, so she had nothing to do. Maybe she could just go to a bar, or walk around the streets for a while and hope to find something amusing to do. She leapt down and started wandering around the streets. Pretty average for a day in her life.

She just walked around, training and fighting hollows, staying out of anything that didn't concern her directly. Pretty average life for a shinigami stuck in the real world. Except she wasn't exactly a shinigami. She was a vizard, the same as the vizards who had helped defeat Aizen, Gin, Tosen and the Arrancar. That was the reason she was in Karakura Town right now. She had heard about all the ruckus through Renji whom she had met in the real world a while ago when they were going after the same hollow.

And so, after that, hoping that something interesting might happen, she travelled to Karakura Town to find it quite average, aside from the shinigami substitute and fellow vizard, Kurosaki Ichigo, who worked together with Kuchiki Rukia, from the Thirteenth Division. There was also Ishida Uryuu, a Quincy, Sado Yasutora and Inoue Orihime, who were both humans that had somehow gained the ability to fight hollows. And then there was the ex-Twelfth Division Captain, Urahara Kisuke, ex-Second Division Captain and Commander-In-Chief of the Onmitsukido, Shihoin Yoruichi, ex-Captain of the Kido Corps, Tsukabishi Tessai and the two children Jinta and Ururu who lived at the Urahara Shoten along with the Mod souls Ririn, Kurodo and Noba who live in plushie bodies.

Considering what most human towns were like, and what Soul Society was like, this was a strange place.

Speaking of the Urahara Shoten, she was actually rather close to the shop. She spontaneously decided to visit the place, hoping for something amusing to happen. There was never a quiet moment around there. When she was out the front, she heard a vaguely familiar gruff voice from inside as well as the chipper voice of Urahara. Siren opened the door, to find none other than the bright red, spiky hair of Abarai Renji in the doorway. He turned around when she opened the door, and looked her over for a moment before recognising her.

"Hey, Siren! It's been a while." he said with a smile.

"Ah, Siren-chan! Hello there." Urahara said, fanning himself as per normal, hiding most of his expressions.

"Yo Renji, Urahara. Certainly has. What are you doing here?" she replied with her usual bored tone, laced with curiosity. She doubted that it was for any hollow reasons, as there hadn't been any all day, and Soul Society probably wouldn't bother sending Renji when Ichigo and Rukia were here. Renji's gaze turned inward as he remembered the events of this morning.

#

_Renji was strolling along the path to the Sixth Division barracks where he was going to tend to some paperwork that he'd put off doing for much too long. If he didn't do it, Kuchiki-taicho was going to be on his case in his noble way that never failed to make him pull his finger out and get to work._

" _Abarai-kun!" said a familiar voice from behind him._

" _Ukitake-taicho!" he said with shock when he turned around and saw the white-haired captain coming towards him._

" _Abarai-kun, I have a favour to ask. I'd like you to go to the real world and find someone for me." Ukitake asked kindly._

_Renji eyebrows rose, "Me? Uh, o-of course. And who do you want me to find?" Renji replied curiously._

" _Her name is Siren. She has black hair, green eyes and she's kind of small."_

_"Ah, I've met her before." he paused, but explained when Ukitake looked rather shocked. "We were going after the same hollow in the real world quite a while ago. Do you know where she'll be?"_

" _In Karakura Town."_

_Half an hour later, Renji was walking through the Senkaimon and coming out on the other side to find the familiar sight of Karakura Town._

_#_

"Actually...I'm here to see you." Renji answered, and shrugged.

"Really? That's random. Whatever for?" Siren asked, thoroughly confused as to why Renji was here to see her in particular.

"Um, I'm here on Ukitake-taicho's behalf. He's asked you to see him in Soul Society as soon as possible."

"What? Did he say why?"

"Nope. He just told me to come here and get you to come back to Soul Society to see him."

Siren sighed, and lowered her head. Well, she was right. Something interesting did happen. She hadn't seen Shiro for many years now and to be honest, she missed seeing him and Kyoraku, whom she called Shun, and she had affectionately deemed them 'Shun-Shiro' when she met them as a child.

"Sure, why the hell not. I can't be in trouble since you didn't say that you were going to take me back by force if I didn't agree. But they would have sent someone stronger if that was the case." Siren said, with a teasing tone, huffing in amusement when Renji tensed and gritted his teeth.

"Just kidding, just kidding. Let's go. See you later, Urahara." she said, walking out the door.

With a grumble, Renji followed and unlocked the Senkaimon and accompanied by their Hell Butterflies, they went through the Dangai, making small talk and when they came out, Siren groaned when she saw the Seireitei which she had been forced to leave very long ago. Things didn't look like they had changed much, but that was fairly normal around here. Traditions and laws were all the same, and since the Old Man was still around, nothing would be changing any time soon.

She turned to Renji, and bid him goodbye, promising him that they would get together to have a few drinks before she left. He agreed and told her to come see him in the Sixth Division when she was able to after she had finished with her business.

Even after being gone for so long, she knew the way to the Thirteenth Division from anywhere since she used to spend most of her free time either there or the Eighth Division rooftop or in some bar with Shunsui. When she got there, the first thing she saw was a male and female arguing about something or other which she didn't bother paying attention to. She went straight past them and opened the shogi screen, and peered into the room to see Ukitake sitting on the floor doing paperwork at a small table.

"Yo." she said simply, waiting him for to look up, which he did immediately after she spoke. He gave her a happy grin and stood up and walked over to her.

"Ikazuchi-chan!" he said happily, and wrapped his arms around her and brought the girl he hadn't seen in so long into a gentle hug.

"Oi, don't call me that here." Siren replied with as much anger as she could muster while giving an awkward, but much needed hug to her old friend and father figure.

"Heh, I'm sorry. It's just been such a long time since I've seen you. I'm glad you're here. We'll catch up soon, but first, there's somewhere we need to go." he said after stepping back, and heading towards the door.

"I'm not in trouble am I? I really can't be bothered to deal with something like that at the moment..." Siren asked him as they walked out of the Thirteenth Division barracks. Though her tone was lazy, inside she was actually a little frightened. If they were going where she thought they were going, then she should be scared.

Ukitake laughed, "Not at all, my dear. There's nothing to worry about." That still didn't alleviate her fear.

"Well, where are we going then? Please tell me we're going to fetch Shun and go have a few drinks." she said, faint excitement in her usually unenthusiastic voice as they strolled through the Seireitei.

"You'll see…" he answered cryptically with a smile.

Siren just sighed and followed him until the large symbol of the First Division loomed over them. She looked at Ukitake questioningly, who just gestured for her to enter the building, and she walked in with him and followed him to a hallway with a massive door at the end. Her feeling of dread started to bubble in her stomach, and she could feel her heart begin to race.

"Wait here for a few moments, okay?" he assured her as she stared at him pointedly, clearly wanting to know why the hell she was here.

For the next few minutes, she waited there quietly, watching as shinigami occasionally walked past at the other end of the long hallway. She guessed that this was where the captain's had their meetings, but could not for the life of her figure out why she was here. It was bad enough that she had to come here in the first place. As a vizard, she technically broke the law of Soul Society that no shinigami was permitted to "acquire or attempt to gain hollow-like powers". So her presence here was not exactly legal, as such.

The massive door opened suddenly, and Ukitake poked his head through and smiled at Siren, glad she hadn't done a runner on him. She had considered running a few times, but trusted that Ukitake wouldn't lead her into a trap that would get her hurt or executed for being a vizard. Even though they hadn't seen each other in so long, she couldn't mistrust him, even if she wanted to.

"You can come in now, my dear." he said, opening the door far enough for her to walk past him and into the large room which had the 8 other captains lined up as per normal and Yamamoto sitting at the head of the room.

She walked in hesitantly, hating the fact that she was the centre of attention. She loathed this situation already. All the captains were looking at her and she shrunk away a little before she saw Kyoraku giving her a comforting smile and a small wave.

"Hey there, Siren-chan. It's been a while." he whispered as she walked slowly closer to the other captains. Siren just gave him a small wave and a small but genuine smile as she walked to stand in front of the old man.

"Siren." the large voice commanding respect grabbed her attention immediately and her head snapped up to look at the So-taicho. She bowed to him in respect, even more confused with the predicament she had somehow managed to get herself in. The atmosphere in the room was tense, but she didn't feel like she was here to be put on trial for what she was.

"You have been asked to come here for a very important reason. I am sure that you know of the treachery of three of our previous captains who were defeated in the recent Winter war." he paused and Siren nodded in confirmation. "Things have calmed down now, and the need for new captains is dire. Ukitake and Kyoraku have recommended you to take the exam, and depending on that, you may or may not be eligible to become a taicho of the Gotei Thirteen."

Siren raised her eyebrows in complete disbelief, wondering for a moment if she had just had way too much to drink last night and was having some sort of odd sake-induced dream or hallucination. This was certainly the last thing she expected when Renji told her to come to Seireitei this morning.

"Uh, so you want me to take the captain's exam? Well, I'll be honest, I have no interest to become a captain. My time serving as part of the Gotei Thirteen ended quite a while ago, and with good reason." she looked behind her at Ukitake, then Kyoraku, then back at Yamamoto, "and I'm sure that Ukitake-taicho and Kyoraku-taicho informed you of exactly  _what_ I am. My question is, why would you consider someone like me for a captain's position since by default I break the law of Soul Society?" she said with a shrug.

"Siren, I informed him of your abilities, and we think that you would be a good asset to Soul Society. And like Genryusai-sensei said, the need for captains is dire, and there is no one else to fill the spots." Ukitake spoke up, trying to reason with Siren, knowing that she wouldn't be interested in such a time-consuming job, but even he couldn't deny that they needed captains badly and that she was perfect for the job.

It wasn't just one captain missing, or even two. There was three large holes in the Gotei Thirteen, and they needed to be patched up. Most of the squads weren't interested in having a captain, thinking that they were holding together fine without one, even though they were probably just worried about being betrayed again by someone they had learnt to admire and look up to. The biggest problem was that there was just too much work for everyone to pick up the slack. Siren couldn't deny the logic, and it seemed that taking the exam couldn't hurt. Though she had left many years ago, she knew she would have stayed if she would have accepted.

"Alright. Fine. I'll take the exam." Siren said knowing that she probably couldn't really talk her way out of this. And this way, if she passed and become a Captain, she would get to see Shiro and Shun more often.

With that positive thinking she accepted her fate.

#

Several hours later, Siren came out of the exam. All the captains had watched, and none of them could deny her power and abilities were quite impressive, even for a captain level. She had to show her hollow powers as well, which she hated having to do, knowing that most of the captains would probably be disgusted with the source of her power. But still, it wasn't like she asked for it. Her hollow side was thoroughly pleased with getting to be used for once since it was usually stuffed away in the corners of her mind.

When she finished, the captains had another meeting, and Siren was forced to wait outside...again. This time she had to wait almost an hour before Ukitake peered through the door again to find Siren sitting down, half-asleep leaning up against the wall. She opened one eye as she heard the door open and saw Ukitake smiling at her, gesturing for her to come in.

She slowly stood up and strolled back into the large room again with her hands in her pockets. This whole process was nerve wracking, but at least it was interesting. Again she watched as Ukitake took his place in line and looked up at Yamamoto.

"Siren. You have passed the exam, and after discussing the matter of your power and its source, we have decided to place you as a captain, but you will be on probation until we can determine that you are fit to keep the job permanently. However, there are a few conditions. One, you must train for a minimum of five hours a week to keep your inner hollow under control. Two, you must report to me directly each week about how the training is going. Do you agree to these terms?" Yamamoto said as Siren just stood there in shock, completely still except for blinking.

"Yes I do." Siren answered with as much professionalism as she could in her shocked state.

"Then, I give you the title of the Ninth Division Captain of the Gotei Thirteen. Do you have anything you would like to say?"

"Um...yes. I'd just like to thank you all for at least accepting me enough to stand with you as a comrade." she said with a quick bow and turned around to bow to the other captains awkwardly. She may be half hollow, but she had manners and could use them when she had to.

"You will be properly inducted early tomorrow morning. Thank you all for your attendance today. This captain's meeting is dismissed." the So-taicho announced and the captains, except for Ukitake and Kyoraku began to walk through the large door.

Ukitake and Kyoraku walked over to Siren, all smiles. They all walked out together, and Siren walked in between them, still kind of shocked about the whole thing. They walked for quite a while until Siren realised that they were in a bar, presumably to celebrate. Kyoraku asked the girl who served them for a private room, and she nodded knowingly, and Siren guessed Kyoraku frequented this place a fair bit.

After a few minutes, they were set up in their private room, with a bottle of sake each, and some extra bottles on the table (this alone confirmed her thought about Kyoraku coming here a lot, and they  _clearly_  knew how big a drinker he was) and they sat down, still in complete silence.

"Congratulations Siren-chan! We are both so proud of you." Shunsui said, pouring his cup full of sake.

"We certainly are. Congratulations, my dear." Ukitake echoed as he did the same.

Siren filled her cup and they said "Kanpai!" and downed the liquid in their cups, and filled them up again.

"I...can't...believe it. How did I go from absolutely nothing, just a vizard, stuck in the real world to Captain of the Ninth Division in less than one day? Any why the Ninth Division by the way?" Siren asked, and drank her sake rather quickly.

"Well, we were originally going to put you as Third Division captain, but their lieutenant has been holding the squad together well enough, and Hitsugaya-taicho has already been helping out the Fifth Division pick up the slack, and Hinamori-chan is back doing her lieutenant's duties. But the ninth division fuku-taicho is a very busy man, and is having a hard time balancing his duties as acting-captain, lieutenant, and the editor job he has in the  _Seireitei Communication_ , so we figured that, if for anything else, is decent enough reason for you to be placed there." Ukitake answered and he drank his sake much slower than both Siren and Kyoraku.

"Fair enough." Siren replied simply, in an accepting voice, and drained her cup before filling it up again. "Sounds like a bit of workaholic to me. I couldn't handle that much work. I'm going to have trouble just being a captain. And I'm certainly going to loathe paperwork even more than I do now."

"Don't worry, Siren-chan. We'll help you out with anything you need." Shunsui said with a reassuring smile.

"I don't know about that. You barely do any of your own work, let alone help me out with mine." Siren stated teasingly with a laugh.

"Aw, you are just as mean as always Siren-chan!" he said with mock hurt, but then become a little more serious, but he was smiling. "I'm glad you haven't changed."

"Ah, let's not get all sentimental now. Of course I haven't changed." Siren waved her hand to brush off the comment. She never handled compliments or sentimentality well.

The three of them, now all of them captains, had a great time catching up with their old friends. It had been many years since Siren had seen either of them, and they were always like fathers to her, and she had missed them dearly. They talked about everything that happened with Ichigo becoming a substitute shinigami, Rukia almost being executed, the both of them destroying the Sokyoku, (which had received an amused chuckle from Siren) nearly having to fight Yamamoto, Aizen and his group, the war, and everything in between. In return, Siren told them about what she had been doing for the past few years, which only took a second since all she said was "Nothing in particular".

After two hours, Ukitake began to feel a little tired, so they paid the bill and left, and Siren insisted to walk Ukitake back home just in case he passed out half-way or something. She said goodbye to Kyoraku and promised that they would go out drinking again as soon as possible. She and Shiro talked more on the way back, and Siren was starting to feel glad that she came back, and that she missed having him around more than she realised. They got back to his captain's quarters, said goodnight and Siren said that she would come and see him tomorrow.

Siren walked around for a while, before deciding to go and see if Renji was in his office. She was in a good mood, and still felt like a drink, so if she could find him she'd drag him back to the closest bar with her. She got lost once, her memory failing her, but eventually found the Sixth Division barracks and found Renji's office. Luckily he was just finishing up some paperwork when she entered.

"Hey Siren. What did Ukitake-taicho want?" Renji asked stacking the last of his paperwork.

"If you can keep a secret and come out for drinks with me, I'll tell you." Siren replied with a mischievous smile.

"Hah, luckily enough I'm actually meeting some of my friends for drinks right now, so you may as well come with me. And I can definitely keep a secret."

They walked out of the barracks with various members of the division bidding their fuku-taicho goodnight, and Siren decided to tell him about what happened today before they got to the bar. She doubted that anyone aside the Captains were supposed to know, but she did kind of what to talk about it, and Renji seemed trustworthy enough. And it wasn't like she knew anyone else here beside the Captains.

"So, do you want to know what happened today? You probably won't even believe me." Siren said, glancing at Renji, who nodded vigorously.

"Well, Ukitake took me to see Yama-jii, and there was a captain's meeting going on, so I had to wait outside. They called me in after a few minutes, and I was asked to take the captain's exam." Renji's head snapped towards her when she said the last part, and before he could interrupt, she held her finger up to silence him and continued. "Anyways, I took the exam, and then they had another meeting, which lasted like an hour, and I was stuck waiting outside  _again,_ and when they finally called me in, the old man told me that I passed the exam and that the captain's had decided that with a few conditions I could be a captain... And there you have it."

"Wow..." Renji's jaw was almost dragging on the ground.

"I know. That's what I thought."

"Do you know what division you'll be captain of?" Renji asked carefully, wondering if he was pushing his luck.

"Ah, I'm not telling you that much. You can find out soon enough. Just don't get drunk and blurt it out, okay?"

Renji laughed. "Hah, I'm not having too much tonight. I still have a lot of paperwork to do, so I don't want to have a huge hangover tomorrow. Here we are. Everyone should already be here."

They stepped inside the bar, that was full of people, and Renji sauntered over to a large table with numerous shinigami sitting at it. Everyone said hi to Renji and he greeted them before introducing Siren.

"Everyone, this is Siren. Siren, this is Matsumoto Rangiku, Madarame Ikkaku, Ayasegawa Yumichika, Kira Izuru, Iba Tetsuzaemon and last but not least Hisagi Shuuhei." Renji pointed to each person as he said their name and Siren smiled and greeted them all simultaneously with her usual 'Yo'. She wouldn't admit it, but she wasn't always great in social situations like this, and it was the first time she had been here in so long that she felt quite out of place.

She sat down across from Renji, next to the bubbly woman, Matsumoto, who immediately started talking to her. They seemed to get along pretty well, and Matsumoto seemed like a big drinker and Siren knew that she had a new drinking partner in the gorgeous, curvy woman. Everyone else seemed pretty cool, and she was glad that Renji had introduced her to them all. Yumichika seemed to take quite an interest in her, and commented on her being beautiful, to which Siren just scratched her head and thanked him awkwardly. She got to talk to all of them, and seemed to get along with them all quite well. She talked about fighting with Ikkaku, and Yumichika questioned her on random girly things that she had no interest nor knowledge in. She debated with Iba if sake was better in Soul Society or the real world and she talked with both Kira and Hisagi about what Hado looked cooler. It was a wonderful night, and slowly they all left to eventually leave only Hisagi and Siren who were both on their fifth bottle of sake.

They talked about random impersonal things and Siren told him about some amusing things she had seen in the real world without revealing more of her past than she wanted. Hisagi told her about his guitar playing and in return Siren told him that she did a bit of singing sometimes. Hisagi seemed like a very genuine, mature and calm person, and Siren knew that she would get along with him. He might be a little too serious for her liking, but then again, that was probably only because she was incredibly lazy and bored by mostly everything.

They called it quits and Hisagi offered to walk Siren home, but she insisted that if anything she would be walking him home. He was considerably more intoxicated than she was and even if he wasn't, she still wasn't ready to go to sleep yet. He followed the usual path mechanically and Siren just followed, even though she had no idea where they were going. Eventually they arrived, and after they got to the room, Siren questioned him on sleeping in an office. Hisagi simply said that it was easier to stay here since he would be here tomorrow morning, which made sense to her. Hisagi put on a womanly sounding voice and thanked her for walking him home. They both laughed hysterically and after they collected themselves they said goodnight and Siren started too wandered out of wherever she was before Hisagi's voice stopped her.

"Hey Siren, what squad are you on? I haven't seen you around before." Hisagi asked after suddenly realising that he'd never seen her around before.

"...you'll find out tomorrow." Siren said cryptically over her shoulder and held up her hand and gave him a single wave.

Hisagi knew that should have some really important meaning to him, but in his half-drunk state, he couldn't remember for the life of him, and just brushed it aside before shutting the door and laying down on the couch in his office. He thought about Siren a little, deciding that she seemed cool and that he hoped he could hang out with her again. She was definitely attractive too, with her black hair, dangling just past her shoulders and the bangs often covering those vibrant green eyes. She was probably only a little taller than Soifon-taicho but had the same build, except maybe a little more muscular.

And with those thoughts in mind, he eventually fell into a deep sleep.

#

For a while, Siren just strolled around, and decided to spend the night on a rooftop as she quite oftenly did in the real world. She wandered around for an hour or so, trying to find the most comfortable looking one, and eventually settled on what was the Thirteenth Division roof, more specifically the roof of Ukitake's quarters. She figured she would talk to Ukitake in the morning, and use his 'facilities' so it would be much quicker if she just stayed here. She laid down on her back, facing the sky and looked at the stars and thinking about what happened today until she fell asleep.

#

Dawn broke, and a few minutes later, the bright sun woke up the small black-haired girl sleeping on the rooftop. Siren stood up and stretched before jumping down to find the closest entrance to the Thirteenth Division barracks. She found Ukitake's quarters and with surprising silence, stalked past his door, but stopped when she saw a pair of familiar looking shinigami robes sitting on a table. She picked them up, noting that they were just her size, and a note next to it read "For Siren" confirmed the thought that they were hers. She strolled quietly down the hall and began to use his bathroom. After she was all fresh and clean, she came out, dressed in the new pair of shinigami robes. They were exactly like the Second Division's robes and she felt like a proper member of the Gotei Thirteen again.

Her old robes were so faded that they were grey, and she threw them away, almost signifying the end of her struggling alone in the real world. It was a seemingly easy task, but it was one that took more mental strength than she had originally expected. It was almost like she was throwing away part of her life, but she was committed and didn't look back.

When she was just walking out of the bathroom, Ukitake opened his bedroom door and lifted his head to look directly at Siren. With a single wave she greeted him, and he glanced over to the table, noticing the new shinigami robes he had gotten for her were gone and that she looked fresh and clean. He smiled and bid her good morning and said he would be out soon as he walked into his bathroom. Siren just sat down and made herself comfortable and waited for him to finish. After he came out, he looked and felt significantly more awake and began to talk with Siren.

"So, how are you feeling about today? Nervous?" Ukitake asked as he made some breakfast for them both.

"No, I just feel...weird. I guess it's just being back here again. Rather nostalgic." Siren said as she got up and helped Ukitake with breakfast.

"Oh, by the way. I should have offered for you to stay here last night since you probably don't know where your quarters are. What did you do?" the white-haired man said apologetically.

"Don't worry about it. I just slept on your roof. After I walked you home, I went out with Renji and some of his friends for drinks. They're all pretty cool. I walked Hisagi home as well, since he was kind of drunk. I don't think I've ever walked two people home in one day, let alone had that much interaction with other people in one day for several years." Siren replied recalling the fun memories from the previous night. "It was…nice…to be around people again. I thought I'd forgotten what it was like." She said with a wistful expression.

Ukitake was silent and he watched Siren for a moment before speaking again. "Well, you shouldn't have had to sleep on the roof, but it's too late for that now, I guess."

They finished making breakfast and ate with light small talk and Siren told Ukitake about who she had met last night and other random stories from her time with her new friends. Ukitake decided not to mention that most of them were lieutenants, especially that Hisagi would be her fuku-taicho since she didn't seem to know. For only knowing him for a short time, she did speak rather highly of him, and he guessed that they would get along quite well. They would eventually butt heads with their different work ethic, but he knew that Hisagi would help her settle in.

When the time came for the ceremony where Siren would officially become the Ninth Division taicho, she and Ukitake walked to the large space in front of the First Division where the captains, most of the lieutenants and many other shinigami were waiting. Ukitake took his place among the captains, and Siren just stood off to the side where she couldn't be seen very well, listening as Yamamoto introduced her. She walked up onto the stage and the shinigami of various ranks and squads clapped as she was handed her new haori and put it on. The ceremony finished quickly and Siren was shown to her office by her Fifth Seat. He told her that most of the seated officers and her fuku-taicho were waiting in their training hall and that he would take her there now.

They arrived at the training hall and she told the Third Seat to go inside and that she would be in in a moment. She waited outside while inspecting her new haori and thinking about how ridiculous she felt in it. She didn't feel like a captain at all. As soon as they found out her being a vizard they would hate her and the last time she had done any sort of leadership work was years ago when she led a mission to the outskirts of Rukongai to do some scouting before the Thirteenth Division came to take care of a particularly strong hollow. And it was that mission that did her in. She shuddered at the memory. Realising abruptly that she'd been out here for several minutes, she put her haori back on, just for the sake of technicality and quietly opened the door. Luckily no one had noticed her yet, so she walked in and stood there silently for a few moments before someone noticed her and within a split-second everyone in the room was staring at her.

Unsure of what to do, she just gave them her usual 'Yo' and single wave but with infinitely more awkwardness than normal. They looked her up and down for a moment and they were all broken out of whatever thoughts they were having by a familiar voice calling her name. She turned her head towards the sound to find none other than Hisagi Shuuhei staring at her with shock.

"So, that is what you meant by 'you'll find out tomorrow'." he said he realised that the really attractive, kind of shy girl he met last night would be his new captain.

"Pretty much." Siren replied as she scratched her head, again hating the fact that she was the centre of attention. She spoke louder so that everyone could hear her. "Uh, I'm not good with this kind of stuff, so...um...Hi, I'm Siren. It's nice to meet all of you. I have only one thing to ask of you. Don't call me 'taicho'. I don't feel like a captain yet, so I'd prefer not to be called by the title until I have proven it to myself as well as all of you. That's pretty much it...I'll meet all of you as soon as I can, but for the moment I'm going to try and get started doing something a little less confronting. So...until then..." she trailed off, having no idea of what to say to these people who were eyeing her so intensely that she could swear they were all art critics and she was just a piece of art on display. She hated the feeling. It was almost like they already knew she was a vizard and were waiting for the chance to see her go out of control so they could reject her.

It took everything she had not to use shunpo to get the hell out of there as fast as possible, but she resisted until she got out of the training hall and a little ways away before using it to go straight back to her office. She would have gone to her quarters but she didn't know where they were, and Ukitake's was too far away at the moment. She needed to calm herself down right now. Sitting down at her new desk and putting her head in her hands, she tried to slow her breathing and heart rate. She wasn't good with crowds and with everyone staring at her like that, so fiercely that she could have sworn they were trying to stare straight into her soul. She just couldn't deal with it.

She was snapped out her thoughts as the door opened suddenly. She looked up to find Hisagi, looking quite frantic before calming down when he realised that she was actually there. He had been looking for her after she left the training hall. He had no hope of catching her when she was using shunpo, especially since she left a few seconds before he realised what just happened and he went to her quarters first, to find them completely empty. He looked around the barracks and finally ended up at her office, even though he thought it would be the last place she would come. But nevertheless, there she was, sitting at her new desk, staring at him looking rather flustered and unnerved.

He walked in and shut the door behind him and over to her desk. She had turned away from him, and he went around her desk to look at her, but she just turned her head the other way. He couldn't deny that she looked kind of adorable trying to stop him looking at her, and almost laughed out loud at the thought of thinking someone who could probably kill him rather easily, adorable. He walked next to her chair and pushed it back until he could stand in between her and the desk. Finally, she relented and looked up at him.

"What's wrong? You got out of there so fast that I was almost convinced that you weren't even there to begin with and that I was just imagining it." Hisagi said softly, trying to cheer her up a little. He smiled when he got a small ironic smirk from her.

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it." she answered, trying to cover up her obvious lie. Hisagi just raised an eyebrow at her, saying that he didn't believe a word of that. "I'm...I'm just not good with crowds. Especially crowds of people staring at me like they hate me already." she said with reluctance, not really wanting to open up, but finding it surprisingly easy with the black-haired lieutenant currently leaning against her desk.

"They can't possibly hate you already. If anything, I think they are curious about you. No one has heard of you before today. Don't worry so much. And hey, why didn't you tell me you were going to be my new captain?" he asked with slight amusement, still trying to cheer her up.

"Why didn't you tell me you were the Ninth Division fuku-taicho? If I knew, I probably would have told you that I would be your new captain." Siren retorted in her casual bored tone.

"Well, when all of us go out, we have a rule to take off our insignia and not talk about our work. That's why." Hisagi said, and Siren shrugged as if to say 'Fair enough'.

Suddenly, she starting getting searing pain in her head. This wasn't uncommon for her, and she'd learnt to cover it up very well, but it was much worse than usual. Her hollow side, which she had named Utsuro was really giving her shit lately, it wanted a chance to get out and reek some havoc. It had a slight taste of really going off in the exam yesterday and it wanted more. The only sign of the sudden pain was the fractional widening of her eyes, and she just sighed as quietly as she could and put her hand over her face. The pain slowly intensified, and it was one of those rare times where she could only suppress her hollow side so much. It ended up coming out as some sort of melding together of both their personalities. Bored with chaotic.

"Annyyywayyy, I'm going to go to the Eleventh Division and spar with someone. I'm up for some training." she cut off Utsuro before she had a chance to continue onto what would have sounded like something Ikkaku would say. She was like the Eighth Division Captain when it came to fighting, only doing it when necessary, and usually too carefree and lazy to take it seriously. But that's because when she did fight, Utsuro came out more, and she became more bloodthirsty and ruthless. She didn't mind that too much, since usually that's who you had to be on the battlefield, but it still annoyed her that she couldn't completely control it.

If Hisagi noticed, he didn't say anything and he moved out from behind her desk so she could get up, which she did slowly, and casually as possible, waiting for the pain to subside. It usually only lasted for a minute or two, and as she walked towards the door, it died down to nothing again.

Hisagi decided to come with her, eager to see his new captain in action. They got there in a few minutes, thanks to Hisagi's directions and as usual, the training hall was full of people sparring and fighting. Ikkaku was standing with Yumichika over the other side of the hall, watching the various sparring matches but when Ikkaku saw Siren he instantly got a huge grin on his face.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the new captain!" he said as he walked over to her. "Clear the floor, let's find out what the new Ninth Division taicho can do!"

As he spoke, the floor quickly cleared, everyone in the room eager to see the two square off against each other. Ikkaku knew he was going to have a really tough time trying to fight off a captain whose abilities he knew nothing about, but he couldn't wait to test the shy, and kind of quiet, but fun when she came out of her shell, girl that he'd met last night.

Siren said nothing, but the shadow of the smirk on her face told everyone in the room that Ikkaku was in for a tough fight. They walked to the opposite ends of the hall and faced off. Ikkaku laughed maniacally when he knew that he was certainly going to have some fun sparring with her.

"How about some hand-to-hand combat for a warm up?" Siren suggested calmly as she stretched her arms and cracked her neck.

"Sounds good to me,  _taicho._ " Ikkaku answered like the smart-ass he is.

"Ah, no calling me taicho. Not until I feel like one." Siren said, as she continued to stretch.

"As you wish. Here I go." Ikkaku retorted before running at her.

For the next few moments, the various members of the Eleventh Division stood and watched, shocked at how much physical strength the small girl had. She was at least at Soifon's level, maybe even a little further because she was a little taller which would help give her more leverage. They were well matched. Ikkaku's no strategy, all out destructive force, against the technical, agile, but still incredibly strong style that Siren had. It only took a few minutes for her to overpower him, and she finally got him pinned after he left himself open, using his momentum against him. Hisagi was impressed with his captain's prowess. He couldn't wait to see what she could do with a blade.

Both of them grabbed their zanpakuto that they had set down earlier, and Ikkaku drew instantly and took his usual fighting stance. Siren just stood there, with her zanpakuto in hand, still sheathed and waited for Ikkaku to make the first move. She watched his every movement, no matter how small. She suggested for them to warm up with hakuda so she could analyse his fighting style. He had an all-out destructive style and he didn't really think about what he was doing. He just fought for the fun of it. She knew that she would have to watch her defence since she guessed that if he actually got a hit on her, it would be a very painful one. She already had experience with an opponent using both the katana and the scabbard because of Risa, who when she could be dragged away from her ero-manga, was a good sparring partner. Slowly, exaggerating the dramatic effect, she drew her zanpakuto, which was the same size as a normal katana with a silver hilt and the handguard shaped liked a diamond. She discarded the scabbard, and inwardly noted that it might be fun to learn how to use it like Ikkaku and Risa sometime.

"Let's go." she said quietly, and they both disappeared as they rushed at each other.

For most of the other people in the room, they couldn't keep up, and only heard the clashes of metal, Ikkaku's trademark laughter, and saw them occasionally appear at random spots in the hall. Ikkaku had a huge smile on his face and seemed be enjoying the battle. After a few minutes, they both fell back and landed at the original positions on opposite sides of the hall. They were both breathing heavier but didn't take their eyes off the other's movement, watching for any sign of an attack. Ikkaku decided to see how she would do against his shikai, and his grin grew larger as he put the two ends of the katana and scabbard together.

"Nobiro, Hozukimaru!" he yelled as the zanpakuto went into the form of a spear. Siren wasn't the type to assume that what you see is what you get, especially with zanpakuto, so she kept her guard up, and kept a close eye on the zanpakuto as Ikkaku charged at her again.

It was certainly different to fight against a spear compared to the hollows she had been fighting for however long it had been and it felt good to go up against someone that could actually force her to use shikai if he got lucky. And at one point he did. Ikkaku used the 'Split' command to separate the spear into the smaller parts to make his spear a sansetsukon, and he nearly cut Siren, but she blocked in the nick of time and jumped back out of his range.

"That's certainly an interesting shikai you have there." Siren drawled slowly, as she stabbed her zanpakuto into the floor to keep it still as she undid a bracelet on her right arm. As soon as she took it off, she threw it to Hisagi, who fumbled slightly catching it, and she smirked before releasing enough reiatsu abruptly to knock out anyone lower than a Tenth seat in the immediate vicinity. She pulled her zanpakuto out of the floor and held her arm out directly straight to the side, with the tip of her blade pointing to the sky. "But, let me show you...mine...Strike, Raikou Arashi." There was a bright light that obscured the sight of Siren's blade transforming into a large, silver, single bladed scythe that looked slightly odd for her size.

Everyone in the room felt a tingle through their bodies and the air seemed to feel a little heavier and Siren just stood there, twirling the large scythe with her right hand, and as it got faster and faster, the air got slightly heavier, and the tingling sensation become more prominent. She abruptly stopped twirling her zanpakuto and disappeared before using her full speed to charge at Ikkaku and use the opposite end of the scythe to hit him in the stomach and send him crashing into the wall behind him. When he opened his eyes a second after he hit the wall, he saw the blade of the scythe directly in front of his face. He looked up to see Siren with a victorious look on her face.

She tilted her head to the side slightly before speaking. "I win." She flipped her scythe around and held it to him so he could use it to help himself up. Siren spun her zanpakuto around a few times as she stared at Ikkaku with her expression saying no less than 'Ha ha, you lost, and I won, ha ha!'.

"Well then. I think you've proven yourself pretty worthy of a captain's spot. Can I call you taicho now?" he said teasingly, trying to get a rise out of her and destroy her glory of winning.

Suddenly, Siren's expression dulled and became incredibly serious. She quickly sealed her zanpakuto, sheathed it, and put it back where it sat on lower back, so all she had to do was lift her arm, and reach back a little before the hilt was in her hand. She looked over to Hisagi, who had already picked up on her change in demeanour and he figured something was wrong. He came over to her immediately, and she tilted her head to the right and even though he had no idea what was going on, he followed her out the door of the training hall and ran along the rooftops beside her nonetheless.

They were heading towards Rukongai and he was going as fast as he could to keep up with her. The speed she had shown when she beat Ikkaku in one move was probably her fastest without a bankai and he was lucky that she wasn't using it right now. After a few minutes of flat out running to an area of Rukongai that Hisagi had never been to before, he realised exactly why they were there.

"Hollow..."


	2. Responsibilities

  **Chapter 2 - Responsibilities**  


* * *

"Hollow..." Hisagi said, shocked and quite confused at how Siren somehow knew exactly where it was.

Said hollow loomed in front of them, it was quite large and looked quite like an overgrown green ape with a mask that had one spike protruding from the centre of the forehead. It also had large claws on its hands and feet. She drew her zanpakuto and Hisagi did the same. He snapped himself out of shock and concentrated on the task ahead.

"It's an Adjuchas, so be careful." Siren said before charging at the beast.

She slashed at the beast and swung her blade with all the talent of a captain and an experienced fighter. It was only the luck of Hisagi staying back so he could look for an opening to get a hit on the hollow that he managed to spot the small boy unconscious on the ground who was directly in the path of the Cero that the Adjuchas was powering up. He called out to Siren, who seemed to take notice of the child.

This was one of those times where she didn't have a choice. She didn't doubt Hisagi's speed, but it was better to be safe than sorry, in this case, better to use her mask and reveal her true form to her fuku-taicho than to risk the child's life. Without her mask, she wouldn't have been able to completely negate or deflect the Cero, and there was no doubt that the child would be hit and killed instantly. She wouldn't even have time to speak a Kido spell that would block the Cero.

In a split second, Hisagi was picking up the child and getting out of the way with enough time to watch Siren pull her hand over her face and her reiatsu to become scarily familiar before she deflected the Cero with the back of her hand, then disappeared from his sight, reappearing just above the hollow and swinging her sword down as hard as she could to slice clean through the hollows mask and most of its head. She landed just in front of the hollow, with her back facing Hisagi, who was holding the unconscious boy in his arms.

The hollow disintegrated instantly, and with the agonising fear that she didn't feel going up against an Adjuchas hollow while trying to protect the boy, suddenly hit her like a punch in the gut when she turned her head to look at him out of the corner of her eye, enough for Hisagi to see her mask before she removed it, and sheathed her katana while walking over to him with her head down. She didn't look at him at all, just stared at her feet, afraid that she would see the fear and disgust that usually came along with someone finding out about her being a vizard.

Siren inhaled and opened her mouth to ask him if he and the child were alright, but she was so freaked out that she couldn't speak because her throat was closing up. Instead of bothering to wait around and explain, she took the option that she was forced to take all those years ago when she first gained this power; run. And she ran to the only place she was able to be by herself. There was a place in the Rukongai mountains that looked out over many districts and she always went there when she felt like being alone. It was difficult to get to since it was so high up, and secluded and it seemed that she was the only one who knew about it.

When she got there, she climbed up and used her zanpakuto to cut through the various bushes and branches that had grown over in time with the path being out of use, and she finally crawled through a tunnel of leaves and branches to come out on the other side, where there was a huge flat slab of rock looking over various parts of Rukongai. The people were going around, doing their daily business, probably completely unaware of what shinigami did day in and day out to protect them at all costs. Siren had just performed such a duty, and in return, she would be forever hated by her lieutenant and the rest of her division, and then all of Soul Society when they found out, save for two who could never hate her.

Taking a deep breath, and trying to calm her nerves a little, she sat down in her usual spot and leant up against the rock that she surprised didn't have a slight indent from her sitting there all the time so many years ago. For hours, she sat there, thinking about what happened, and trying to figure out how she could have kept the secret and still saved the child. Strategising, analysing. Unfortunately, she could think of no other way. She knew that without the aid of her mask, she wouldn't have the ability to save the day and all that, but it wasn't like a superhero using their powers of good and purity to do so. She had to turn to the power that had come about from her suppressed feelings of hate, despair and anger. The power that she was so lucky to have lived after receiving.

Alone, she thought through anything and everything until eventually the sun had set. She was calm now, and felt that she could probably head back into the Seireitei now. The only place that she could think of going was Ukitake's. She hoped that his fatherly disposition would help her make sense of all this and hopefully she'd be able to face Hisagi and the rest of her division sometime in the next hundred years or so with his encouragement.

Using all the stealth and silence of an ex-Onmitsukido and Second Division member, she stalked through the twists and turns of the Seireitei, careful not to run into anyone. It wouldn't be surprising if the whole place knew about her secret now, and she just hoped that she didn't have anything to do that would force her to face anyone other than the captains any time soon. At least they already knew about it. She found Ukitake's place, and thanked the stars that Kiyone and Sentaro weren't around.

Opening the door to find her reiatsu sealing bracelet on the table next to Ukitake's pile of paperwork that he was currently doing was not was she expected to see. Siren's eyes went wide, realising that would mean Hisagi would have to have come here sometime between the event this morning and now. She quickly checked to make sure no one was looking before she stepped inside, shut the door behind and took a seat on the other side of the table. Neither one of them said anything for a while, and Ukitake had already figured out why she was here, and he knew that Siren would speak when she was ready. It took five, dead silent minutes before that time came.

"It was good while it lasted...I guess." she mumbled with an extremely melancholy tone.

"Siren, you didn't ask to become a vizard. Just like Ichigo-kun, and Shinji, Risa, Rose, Love, Mashiro, Kensei, Hachigen and Hiyori! You did it saving me, and no one should hold any prejudice against you for that. It was the bravest and most self-sacrifing thing I have ever seen anyone do." Ukitake knew that reasoning with Siren while she was in this state would prove to be a difficult task, but she had always listened to him, and he doubted that would change, especially now when she needed him most.

She rolled her eyes and turned away before mumbling something he couldn't understand. He asked her to repeat what she said before she reluctantly turned to look straight at him, lifting one of her knees up to rest her elbow on it and put her hand over her face.

"I don't want them to think I'm just another Tosen." she whispered sadly, her voice filled with self-loathing.

Ukitake visibly sat back, completely shocked by the statement his unofficial adopted daughter just said. "I can't believe you would think that. Tosen betrayed us. He  _chose_  to become what he did, and you did  _not_. That's the difference. Anyone who can't see that is just as blind as Tosen was."

Siren picked up the bracelet off the table and started putting it on. "I'm guessing Hisagi was here. Did he say anything to you about it?"

"He was here about an hour ago. And he didn't have to. The captains were informed of what happened after he gave his report to Genryusai-sensei. But he did ask if you had been here. He seemed quite concerned. You should at least go and see him." the white-haired captain tried to convince her even though he doubted she would actually visit her Lieutenant out of fear that he would hate her.

"Do you think he's told the rest of the division?" she looked through the gaps in her fingers to see him shake his head.

"Of course not. Hisagi is a mature man. He is smart enough to know that you probably wouldn't want anyone knowing, especially since you kept it from him. If Genryusai-sensei did not tell him, then he would understand that he wasn't supposed to know."

"I should probably see him then. Maybe it hasn't sunk in and he hasn't started to be disgusted with me yet." she said sadly, and stood up from her seated position on the floor.

Ukitake just sighed, knowing there was no point trying to tell her otherwise and before she walked out the door he reminded her that she was welcome to stay at his place tonight if she didn't want to be on her own. She just made a quiet sound of acknowledgement and shut the door behind her. Siren crept her way to Hisagi's office, expecting him to be in there since it still wasn't that late. She silently slid his door open a fraction so she could look in there, and as expected, he was sitting at his desk writing something down on some paperwork before adding it to the stack he had sitting in a box next to the desk on the floor. Carefully, she slid the door open more, and just hoped that he would notice her there instead of her coming in obnoxiously and announcing her being there.

Hisagi heard the sound of the door opening and looked over to find his new captain, leaning against the door frame, biting her lip and looking at her feet, which she was scuffing nervously. If he was honest with himself, as soon as he realised that Siren was a vizard, his first thought was 'Oh, no'. But after cooping himself up in his office all day, doing paperwork mechanically while thinking everything over. He wanted to sort himself out before he saw her again. He wanted to have figured out how he felt about the whole thing so he didn't say something he didn't mean that might upset or offend her.

So for the whole day, he had just sorted out his thoughts. He came to the conclusion that he was kind of upset that he wasn't told about this. Fair enough for the rest of the division, but at least the lieutenant should be given such vital information. Especially when their last captain ended up being more of a hollow than shinigami, which was certainly a kick in the pants since he had truly looked up to Tousen. He wanted to know how she became a vizard and he sincerely hoped she didn't ask for the power, although she seemed like the kind of person who wouldn't do such a thing. But, he was a mature and understanding person, and he knew that with an explanation, he would feel a lot better, and it's what he was going to ask for.

With caution and reluctance, Siren stepped inside and shut the door behind her. She had the hand that Hisagi couldn't see fisted in her shinigami robes as she walked over and sat down at the chair he had at the opposite side of his desk. Eventually, she let go of her robes and crossed her arms on his desk, and rested her head on them, facing downwards so he couldn't see her face. It was a moment of uncomfortable silence before she spoke.

"Please don't be disgusted by me...I'm not another Tosen. And I know that saying that probably doesn't help, but it would make me feel even worse if I didn't say anything." she whispered so quietly that he almost couldn't hear her. Hisagi hesitated and tried very hard to think about the best way to go about asking.

"How did you become a vizard?" he said quietly, trying to make his voice as soft as possible.

"It was thirty years ago. There was this really strong hollow in Rukongai who had been causing a lot of trouble and it had killed nearly everyone who went to slay it. I led a team of four other members of the Second Division to do some scouting so we could report back to the Thirteenth Division who were going to try and take care of the hollow. Ukitake was going to accompany the twenty shinigami he had assigned to the task just to be on the safe side. While they were trying to take down the hollow, my team made sure that no unsuspecting soul somehow got stuck in the middle of it. Most of the twenty shinigami were dead within a few minutes, and Ukitake began taking on the hollow himself." she took a deep, slightly shaky breath before she continued.

"H-he got sick, right in the middle of the fight, and that was when the hollow was charging up a Cero aimed right at him. Point blank. As a Captain, he wouldn't have died, but as a sick man, he might have been in serious trouble. Before I knew what I was doing, I had thrown myself in front of him to shield him from the attack, and _we_ _think_  that I died for a few minutes, but was somehow brought back. But I may have just been unconscious. When I came to a few minutes later, the hollow was gone, and Ukitake was standing over me, with a look of horror that I had never seen on his face before. He told me that a hollow mask had formed on my face, and that within a few seconds I started fighting the hollow, and it only took another minute for me to kill it, and that's when the mask broke away and I regained consciousness." she spoke quietly, and still hadn't moved an inch the whole time she was talking.

She heard Hisagi stand up, and walk a few steps, but paid no attention to it. Suddenly, she was lifted off the chair pulled into his arms. She never did too well with affection, but a hug was just what she needed. She returned the embrace...awkwardly, but returned it nonetheless, and Hisagi just clutched her tighter.

"Why didn't you just tell me that in the first place instead of running off?...Fool." he whispered to her with mock anger.

Siren was shocked to hear no hate in his voice. "I-I don't understand. How can you be so accepting of me?"

"You were willing to sacrifice yourself to save Ukitake-taicho. You were willing to die to save someone you cared about. You went through the trouble of suppressing your hollow, and controlling it all because you didn't want him getting hurt. You left Soul Society to hide in the real world for the next thirty years for all that." he let go of her, and gently pushed her back so he could look into her eyes. "Do you regret going through all that to save him?"

Her eyes widened, and she shook her head slowly. No one had ever put it that way to her before.

"Then there's your answer. Only people with no sense of honour would still have prejudice against you after knowing what you went through to save someone you cared for." he said pleadingly, trying to convince her that she was stupid for thinking that he would be disgusted by her. Slowly, she nodded and he smiled faintly before gently hugging her again.

They just stood there, holding each other for a few minutes, as Siren slowly reverted back to her old self, and the mood gradually lightened. Siren pulled back first, a little awkwardly and smirked faintly before sitting back down. Hisagi seemed to remember something all of a sudden, as he walked around his desk, and opened one of the draws. He lifted out two bottles of sake and grinned mischievously as he set them down on the desk. Siren raised her eyebrow in question and Hisagi just lifted two cups out of the draw and cracked open one of the bottles before filling up each cup.

He slid one across the table to Siren, who lifted it and downed the liquid before slamming it back down on the table and gesturing for Hisagi to fill it up again. He chuckled and drained his cup before filling them both up. This happened for the next few minutes until they both began to feel the effects of the alcohol kicking in, Siren feeling it a lot less than Hisagi.

"Oh, by the way. How the  _hell_  did you know that hollow was there this morning?" Hisagi drawled, with a faint hint of the beginning to slurring his words.

"Um, I can sense Garganta's opening. Don't ask how. Not even Urahara could figure it out completely. But we think it's just my heightened hollow senses that allow me to pick up on it." she waved her hand as if to shoo away the question that hadn't even been asked yet. "Oh, hey. I need you to show me where my captain's quarters are, because I still don't know."

"Alright, I'll show you where it is right now." he said, before they both raised their cups and nodded once at each other before consuming the contents in one gulp.

They both stood up, now slightly tipsy, and strolled out of Hisagi's office. After about two or three minutes, they were standing in front of the door to the Ninth Division captain's quarters. It felt weird for Hisagi to be standing here again, but even weirder for Siren. She suddenly decided that it creeped her out she didn't want to stay there, and asked Hisagi if she had a couch in her office because she couldn't remember for the life of her. He told her that she had two, and she smiled happily and began walking to her office. When they got there, she walked in and sat down on the couch, bouncing a few times to test how comfortable it was.

Laying down for a moment, she decided it would suffice before jumping up and asking Hisagi if he had a blanket she could use. He said that he had two in his office for when he slept there and that he'd get one and bring it back, as well as the sake. A few minutes later, he was back, carrying the two bottles, the cups and the blanket draped over his shoulders. It was already the late afternoon and Siren figured that she probably wasn't going anywhere tonight with this much sake at her disposal after all she'd been through today.

Hisagi didn't drink as fast as Siren, but that was probably a good thing, since soon enough they were both drunk and laughing about ridiculous nonsensical things and coming up with inside jokes that they would probably still be laughing about in ten years. About an hour later, the office door opened abruptly and Matsumoto, and Renji were standing outside. Hisagi and Siren both did the typical 'Hey!' when they walked in and sat down on the couch opposite them. They both laughed at the new captain being drunk already, and her lieutenant being just as bad for not just encouraging it, but being drunk as well, even though they were glad to see the two getting along so well.

Soon enough, Matsumoto and Renji were drunk and joining in on Hisagi and Siren's laughing about ridiculous nonsensical things and coming up with more inside jokes. After a few hours, Matsumoto and Renji headed home (hopefully they actually got there) and Hisagi and Siren just crashed out on the two couches in Siren's office and they both quickly fell into a deep sleep that they both needed...

#

The next morning, Hisagi woke with a shockingly weak hangover for how much he had to drink, and that instantly put him in a good mood. When he finally bothered to open his eyes, he noticed he wasn't in his office or his quarters. He sat up quickly, and noticed Siren sitting at her desk staring at him with an amused expression.

"How are ya feeling, Hisagi?" she said teasingly, trying to get a rise out of him.

"Not too bad actually. Did we finish those two bottles last night?" he asked sleepily while rubbing his face with his hands to wake himself a little more.

Siren nodded slowly. "We sure did, Matsumoto and Renji gave us some help, but it didn't take too much for them to both be written off." Her eyes widened abruptly, "That reminds me, I should probably go and check if they actually got home alright..."

#

_Renji stumbled slowly down the path to his quarters and thanks to the alcohol, he actually walked past it the first time. After laughing obnoxiously loud at his own stupidity, he walked back and opened his door, only to trip over the frame as he was walking in and pass out with his lower body out the door, and his upper body inside._

_Elsewhere, Matsumoto was quite used to walking back to her quarters or her office while intoxicated, so it was a walk in the park for her...until she came across her captain, who was not_ _amused._

_"Matsumoto!" he growled in his usual angry voice, and Matsumoto just laughed and told him everything was fine, before she skipped off and located her office, which was closer and passed out on the floor._

#

"Meh, I'm sure they're fine." Siren shrugged and went back to reading over the paperwork she would have to start doing almost every week as long as she was a captain.

Hisagi told her he was going to have a shower and that he would bring them back something to eat. As he strolled back to his quarters, he attempted to remember the night's events. He did vaguely remember Matsumoto and Renji coming in, but he didn't remember them being drunk or leaving. As he showered and readied himself for the day ahead, he had the feeling that working with Siren was going to be pretty easy. She did seem kind of lazy, but it seemed like she also knew to crack down when necessary.

As promised he brought them back something him and Siren to eat, and they enjoyed it while Hisagi explained anything she didn't understand in the stack of paperwork that she had to complete as soon as possible. It felt slightly odd for him to not be acting-captain any more, as he was just getting used to balancing his duties, but he couldn't deny that it was relief to have that extra load off of his back. After Siren got thoroughly annoyed and refused to do any more paperwork, they just sat talking about the responsibilities and tasks she'll have as captain, which usually earned an unenthusiastic groan from her.

Several hours later, at a little after lunchtime, the door opened to show Komamura's large form standing just outside, with Iba fuku-taicho just behind him. Politely as possible, Siren greeted them, and asked them both to come in. Komamura asked to talk to Siren, and Hisagi and Iba took their leave. They sat down on the two opposite couches and Siren was seriously hoping that Komamura wasn't going to say something like 'You'll never replace Tosen', even though she severely doubted he would say something like that. He seemed like a very loyal person and quite accepting. Maybe his own personal differences would allow him to accept her more than most people.

"Siren, I'd firstly like to welcome you as a captain of the Gotei 13." he said with a kind smile.

"Thank you so much. You have no idea how much that means to me." she replied, with exaggerated relief.

He smiled wider before speaking again. "Secondly, I'm sure you know that I was very close with the previous captain Tosen Kaname. Our two divisions always got along very well, and I would like to keep that relationship going."

"Yes, I was discussing that with Hisagi earlier. I agree with you entirely and I look forward to working with you." Siren said with a professional voice that sounded almost nothing like her usual bored one, and nodded gracefully in agreement to Komamura's words.

"Also, in the meeting after you took the exam, you thanked us for accepting you enough to let you stand by us as a comrade." he said, with a tone that asked her to confirm her words. She nodded again and he continued. "As I'm sure you are aware of my own  _differences_  to the rest of the captains, and it was only just recently that I revealed myself to them, and the rest of the Seireitei. I understand how it feels to be different and judged based only on those differences. I would like you to know that if you are having issues on that front or regarding anything else about your job, that you may come and see me. I would be happy to help in any way I can."

Siren, sat there, shocked at the Tenth Division's Captain's kind words. A moment later, she snapped out of it, and tried to speak. She couldn't get any words out yet, so she just smiled, if a little sadly.

"I was actually hoping you would say something like that. When I first walked in that room in the First Division barracks, you seemed to be the only one aside Ukitake and Shunsui who didn't look at me like I was a strange creature. To be honest, it was more than I expected to get. So thank you for that." she spoke quietly as she looked down at her hands, fidgeting uncomfortably at opening up to someone.

Komamura listened carefully to everything Siren said. Her being alone for so many years certainly showed in how she treated people. She was reserved but treated people kindly, and with respect, but he also had a feeling that if they mistreated her, it would be an eye for an eye. She also seemed quite shy at first, but he came to the conclusion that it was shyness, but a lack of interaction with other people for so long. He hoped they would get along.

"It was always the same with me. But you have been put through more than I, because you were once a normal Shinigami, whereas I have always been like this. You became the way you are because you placed another person's life above your own. Not only did you do that, but you still managed to complete the mission and save lives of innocent Rukongai citizens." Siren's head snapped up at this statement.

"Wait, you know how I became a vizard?" she asked, slightly irritated. She preferred people not to know, so that maybe, just maybe, they could accept her without hearing the sob story of how she become part hollow.

"Yes. Ukitake-san told us after he suggested you to replace one of the captain's positions. It was a very noble thing to do." Komamura answered, respect in his voice.

For the next half hour or so, they made conversation about their views of many different things, and they both quite enjoyed having a talk with someone new, who could understand them. Iba and Hisagi returned from where ever they went and Iba reminded Komamura about something they had to do. Komamura said goodbye, and said that she could come visit him any time. Siren thanked him graciously, and said goodbye to both him and Iba, who returned it, and said a casual 'See ya later' to Hisagi before they walked out the door, shutting it behind them.

"What was that about?" Hisagi asked as he strolled back into the room and took his seat next to Siren's at the desk.

"Basically, he said that he wants the relationship between our divisions not to change and he told that he understands what it's like being different around here and that he'll help me out whenever I need it. You know, all that lame stuff. Then we had an awesome philosophical conversation for like half an hour, then you guys came back." she said while also sitting down again, and starting the paperwork that they'd left when Komamura and Iba arrived.

For the next few hours, they worked on more and more paperwork. They signed a report which had to be taken to the Thirteenth Division and Siren offered to take it over there so she could see Ukitake. Hisagi said that he was going to his office to do some work that he'd put off doing the past few days. Siren said that she'd see him later and they went the opposite way to each other. When she got to Ukitake's, Kiyone and Sentaro greeted her, then quickly went back to arguing loudly about who was going to get some tea for their captain.

The small, dark-haired captain, and the white-haired captain talked for a while before she left him to rest since he wasn't feeling well that day. On the way out, she made sure to give herself a laugh by intimidating the two argumentative third seats about being quiet so Ukitake could rest. When she was walking back to her own division, she ran into Iba on the way. He called out to her, but made the mistake of calling her 'taicho', which she hastily corrected him on. He laughed but seemed to understand when she told him why she preferred not to be called by her title, but stayed respectful and called her by her title anyway.

"So, you're the Seventh Division lieutenant?" Siren asked as they walked.

"Certainly am. I like working under Komamura-taicho. By the way, Hisagi seems to have taken a liking to you. He was speaking pretty highly of you earlier." Iba replied in his usual gruff voice.

"Really? That's good. It was kind of funny finding out that he was my lieutenant after meeting him the night before when I tagged along with Renji." Siren said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, little did I or any of us know that you were going to be inducted as the new captain the next day." he laughed as well.

"Actually, I told Renji on the way to the bar. The only other people I knew here were Ukitake and Kyoraku, and they already knew, so I had to tell someone that didn't know. That just ended up being Renji." she admitted with a smirk.

Iba laughed again. "Well, fair enough then. I'm surprised he didn't blurt it out. Anyway, I'm this way, so I'll talk to you again soon Siren-taicho."

"Yeah, nice meeting you professionally. See ya Iba." she did her usual wave and continued the direction of Kyoraku's office. She hadn't had a chance to talk to him about yesterday's incident, and thought that now would be a good time.

Hoping that for once he would actually be in his office, she opened the door and peered in, to find it empty. She sighed, and walked out and leapt up onto the roof with ease and found him, looking asleep with his hat over his face. She knew that he probably would have known she was there the moment she jumped up on the roof, so she just walked over and laid down next to him.

"You heard, didn't you?" she said cryptically, hoping that he wasn't  _completely_ tanked yet, so that she didn't have to remind him of what she was talking about.

"Yep. How did Hisagi-kun take it? He was looking for you around here, you know." the flamboyantly dressed captain answered, moving his hat off his face so he could actually look at the green-eyed girl next to him.

"Surprisingly, he took it really well. I told him how it all happened, and he kind of scolded me for running off instead of just telling him about it."

"When are you going to tell everyone else? They're going to find out soon enough, you know."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. I think I'll start telling the lieutenants soon. I'll probably start with Renji, since I'm already friends with him. He won't care at all because of Ichigo and everything. Matsumoto, Yachiru and Nemu wouldn't really care either, so I'll probably tell them as well. I have no idea what Nanao, Hinamori, Isane, Kira, or Iba would think of it. I couldn't care less about telling Omaeda, the guy annoys me already and I only heard him speak like once when I was walking past him heading towards Ukitake's. Chojiro probably already knows...maybe I should just call them all together in a meeting or something."

"That would make it easier for you, only having to tell it once. When will you do it?"

"I don't know, maybe in a while. I'll tell Hisagi to call a meeting for me." she said, thinking of the easiest time for her to reveal her 'true self', so to speak.

At that moment, Nanao walked over, holding a huge book as always. Siren decided she would get going, already feeling a little better.

"Nanao-chan, this is the new Ninth Division captain, Siren." Kyoraku introduced her as she stood up to take her leave.

"Nice to meet you, Nanao-fuku-taicho. I don't know how you put up with him. But thank you for all your hard work." Siren said with respect, knowing that the poor girl probably did most of the work for her lazy-bum of a captain.

"It's nice to meet you too Siren-taicho. I don't exactly know either. I have a feeling that my captain will be nursing quite a hangover tomorrow which will add to more of my problems." she looked over to mock-glare at the man lying on the ground with a silly smile on his face that said that he certainly would have a hangover tomorrow.

"Ah, I think I'm going to have to also mention my dislike for being called taicho. I don't really feel like a captain yet, so I'd prefer to just be called 'Siren' for the moment. Anyway, I'm off. Talk to you soon Shun, bye Nanao."

They both bid her goodbye and Siren made her way back to Hisagi's office to find him working on whatever he said he'd put off doing earlier. He stopped and stretched when she came in, watching as she walked in with her hands in her pockets and sat on his desk, careful to avoid the large stacks of paper.

"So...I have a mission for you." she drawled and tried to fight back her smirk that was threatening to show.

"Oh, really? And what's that?" Hisagi seemed to pick up on her not being serious and decided to play along.

"You are hereby ordered to make me an awesome dinner, let me wash my clothes and use your shower." she restrained her chuckling, but could no longer fight the smirk that spread across her face.

"I accept this mission. Shall I start now... _taicho_?" he said, exaggerating the 'taicho' part, knowing that he would probably pay for it. Siren said nothing, but just got down from the table, put her hands back in her pockets, walked around next to Hisagi's chair, and very casually kicked it, sending him flying across the room and into the wall.

"Yep. Now would be awesome. Let's go." she said, her voice dripping with well-feigned nonchalance.

Hisagi got up and followed her, while shaking his head and laughing softly. He knew he was going to pay for it, but maybe not that much. It was still worth getting a laugh out of though. At least she only kicked the chair, and not him. Siren followed the vague memory she had of walking a rather tipsy Hisagi home the first night she met him and found his place first try. She walked straight into the bathroom, stripped off and grabbed one of his large, dark blue, fluffy towels and wrapped it around her. She walked out, holding her clothes and Hisagi took them, saying that it was about time he washed his own, so he'd just wash hers as well. She thanked him, and walked back into the bathroom and began to have a shower.

While she did so, she allowed herself to think. She was really glad that Hisagi was her lieutenant, it made things easier. He was calm, mature, but he still knew how to have a good time. They were getting along famously and she was finding a lot of the work she had to do quite easy with his help and explanations. He clearly had been doing it for a while, and she realised that he would make a perfect captain. Making a mental note to ask him if he was working on getting bankai, she washed the conditioner out of her hair, turned off the shower and began to dry herself off. When she was sufficiently dry, she walked out with the towel wrapped around her damp body, hoping that Hisagi had started dinner, because she was  _starving._

Her jaw dropped at the sight she saw in the small kitchen. Hisagi. Wearing only a pair of shorts. Cooking something that smelt absolutely amazing and humming a tune softly. She may be pretty uninterested in getting involved with someone, but that didn't mean she couldn't look. Luckily for her, he hadn't seemed to notice her yet, so she just watched for a minute. He had much darker skin that her own, and she already knew that he was attractive, even with the scars and tattoos. In fact, that just made him more attractive. She'd never found the 'typical' hot guys attractive, and it was at this moment, that she realised just how good looking Hisagi Shuuhei really was.

Toned muscles decorated his form, along with several faint scars that she could only just see from where she was standing a few metres away from him. The muscles rippled as he shifted his weight and moved his arms. After taking it all in for a good minute or so, she realised that she recognised the song he was humming. It began to play in her head, and she quietly strolled up next to Hisagi, and started humming the melody with him. They both started getting louder as the song progressed into the chorus in their heads, and Siren began softly singing the words out loud.

Hisagi remembered about her telling him that she did a bit of singing when he first met her, and she wasn't lying. Even though she was singing very softly, she still sounded wonderful. Slowly, he stopped humming with her, and just listened to her sing, and thankfully she didn't seem to notice. She had her eyes closed and her head was rocking from side to side in time with the soundless beat playing and she ended up singing the rest of the song without realising it. After she stopped singing, looked up at Hisagi, who was looking at her with a captivated expression and a small smile.

Gradually, his smile got bigger and turned into a grin as Siren began to blush faintly when she realised he was just standing there watching her as she was singing. He started laughing when she mustered up as much anger as she could and glared at him with her arms crossed.

"Aw, come on. Don't be like that. You sounded so good that I couldn't help but stop and listen to you!" he said, still laughing and he held his arms out like he was going to hug her. She turned her head away from him, looking directly in front of her, and as he stepped closer towards her, she lifted her arm and rammed her elbow into his chest and he coughed as he doubled over, still laughing faintly in between coughs.

Secretly, she was just really glad he didn't catch her perving on him, which took all of her self-control not to continue doing, now as he stood back up to his full height, and his stomach muscles rippled as he restrained his laughter. Then, she smelt something a little odd. She raised her eyebrow in confusion, and it only took her a moment to identify the source.

"The foods burning! You idiot!" she scolded as he quickly lifted the food out of the pan and into two bowls. The smell of the barbecue pork noodles filled her nostrils and her head lolled back and she moaned happily in anticipation. Barbecue pork noodles was her  _favourite._ Hisagi was kind enough to take the small burnt portion, and they sat down and began to eat. After just one mouthful, Siren felt like she was in heaven.

"Oh my god. I love you." she said with her mouth full of noodles.

Hisagi chuckled and smirked smugly. "Yeah, I seem to have that effect on-"

"Not you...Hisagi. I was talking to the noodles. Don't go getting ahead of yourself now..." she interrupted him, and shovelled her mouth full of food again as his expression went completely blank. He huffed in amusement and kept eating. They finished at the same time, and Siren patted her stomach satisfactorily.

The sun was beginning to set now, and Siren opened Hisagi's window further so she could watch. He had a perfect view of it from the window, and she just sat there, leaning on the window frame, enjoying the blending multitude of colour flowing out from the orange circular centre. Hisagi noticed what she was doing after he came back in from the kitchen after cleaning up their dishes and smiled before joining her sitting in front of the window.

This was the kind of moment that Siren enjoyed experiencing in the real world. When she was there, she wasn't a captain. She wasn't a shinigami. She wasn't anyone. In a way, she wasn't really a vizard either. And that's how she liked it. Sure, it got lonely and boring sometimes, but travelling always filled her need for excitement, and the loneliness was quite preferable to the company of humans who never made sense to her.

Hanging out with the vizards was good for a while. There was certainly never a dull moment, and she and Hiyori always loved beating on Shinji after he'd hit on her and start blabbering on about her being 'his first love' and what not. Risa was good for the kind of silent company. She was usually too engrossed in her ero-manga to pay attention to you, but that was a good thing at times. Love and Rose were such an odd pair, and Love always cracked her up with quotes from whatever Shonen Jump manga he was reading at the time. Kensei and Mashiro were funny with their ridiculous arguments and Hachi, was what you'd call the 'neutral' type. And Shinji...he was...well... _Shinji_.

But being in their company, while it never got boring, or annoying, just didn't sit right with Siren. They're group formed from them all going through the same thing at the same time, and even though they were vizards, Siren didn't really feel like she could  _fully_  empathise with them. Especially since their hollowification was done on purpose, not by accident.

During the last thirty years, she had spent the first five of them with the vizards, training and just hanging out. And beating up Shinji. Then she left them, wanting to go out and just be free for a while. Since she was still quite new to being a vizard, she occasionally had trouble with Utsuro pestering her. But she figured out that that was only usually when she was feeling things such as despair, sorrow, or anger. Typical emotions for a hollow. So, she travelled to places of beauty and took in as many things about the real world as she could whilst continuing her training. It allowed her to be calm, and it was a great experience.

Occasionally, she forgot about being a shinigami once upon a time, and she forgot about being a vizard. But she never forgot the fact that she didn't feel like she had any reason for her existence. Strangely enough, that didn't bother her much, since it was moments like watching the sun set, and rise, the slow progression of seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, years, that made her enjoy still being around.

Without realising it, 15 years had passed, and it was then that she got in contact with Ukitake and Kyoraku. They spoke through a communication device that she had 'salvaged' from a shinigami that was killed attempting to fight a hollow which she killed. Their conversation was brief, but she remembered why she was existing again. She existed because she was almost like a daughter to them both, Ukitake especially, and she knew that it would kill them both if she was no longer around.

After that, it was almost like she had a new outlook on life. Utsuro didn't bother her for ages, because she was feeling happy about talking to her honorary fathers again. The last time she'd talked to either of them was just after the _incident_. She had almost forgotten about how much she missed them. She started training harder, and had already mastered her bankai, but she became more proficient in using it, as well as Kido, basic swordsmanship, and she constantly trained in using shunpo.

Then around six months ago, after all the crap with Aizen and co went down, she travelled to Karakura Town after meeting Renji. There, she was able to train with Yoruichi and further improve her shunpo and hakuda, as well as learning some new moves directly from the master herself. Then she was smacked through the wall of nobody, and came through the other side as Gotei Thirteen, Ninth Division, Siren- _taicho._

Did it make sense?  _Hell no_. But, that was half the fun.

Siren ended up crashing on Hisagi's couch and over the next few days, they worked constantly. She met more of the seated members of the division, and even scheduled some training sessions with them, which went surprisingly well. As the days went by, she picked up more and more of the captain's responsibilities until she finally began doing the workload of a proper captain. It was less than she expected and she was still able to have a fair bit of free time, which was all she wanted.

It also didn't get past her that Utsuro had been awfully quiet lately. She was probably just too busy for her polar opposite to interrupt. After a month, things began to slow down a fair bit as missions lessened slightly which helped them catch up on any work they had put off.

Now the records were changed so that now she would be forever recognised as an official captain of the Soul Society Gotei Thirteen. Technically she was still on probation, but since she hadn't slipped up once, there seemed to be no reason for her not to be recognised as having the title.

Soon enough, it was time for Renji's birthday, and Siren had already planned out a huge night for the whole group to enjoy. With her large salary as a captain, and her not having anything to spend it on aside food for her and Hisagi even though most of the time he insisted on buying it himself, she had saved up and bought a rather large house in Rukongai for them to all hang out in and come and go as they please. In essence, it was going to be all their birthday presents. Everyone in the group knew about Renji's birthday get-together, but they decided to keep it a secret from Renji, just because it would be more fun that way. It was even more fun for Siren since she would be revealing the house to them all as well.

And Siren had topped it off by having a game that she had learnt about in the real world, which would undoubtedly reveal secrets and make people do things they never thought they would do...


	3. Secrets Revealed

**Chapter 3 – Secrets Revealed**

* * *

Renji was sitting in his office, wishing that being a fuku-taicho didn't involve doing so much god damn paper work. He had just read over and signed off five different reports for missions that his division had done, and he would have to take them to his captain so he could sign them off. But he could do that tomorrow, it was his birthday and he really didn't feel like staying late. He just wanted to go home, have a drink and relax.

As soon as Renji finished that thought, a figure dressed entirely in black, leapt up to land on the window frame. The figure looked around and saw him, then flew at him. His zanpakuto was on the desk, and by the time he realised it, it was too late. They circled each other around the desk for a few moments, and Renji waited for the right time to grab his zanpakuto. Before that time came, the person jumped over the desk and lunged at him. They wrestled for a few moments, and the person eventually pinned him down.

Next thing he knew, he was being thrown over the person's shoulder, who he now noticed was actually rather small, considering their strength and ability to take down someone who was probably a whole third bigger than them. The figure dressed in black jumped onto the window frame again, and they began to glide over the rooftops. Renji didn't bother struggling much because he wasn't in much of a position to make a good counter attack.

Also, he hadn't felt any legitimate fear for his life of safety whilst fighting his attacker, and they seemed to pull their punches quite a bit. For someone that could overpower him, he was relatively unscathed.

Several minutes later (which felt more like an hour to Renji) they stopped on a rooftop to a big house somewhere in Rukongai, and leapt down to land at the front door. Renji quickly tried to recognise and memorise anything he could, so he might be able to make his way back here after he escaped. If he could escape, that is. The person put out their hand to make contact with an orange coloured barrier and slipped straight through it and opened the door to the large house.

The mystery person dropped him very ungracefully on his butt in the middle of the room, and he was starting to feel the effects of being stunned wear off. He tried to get a good look at the person from what he could see in the minimal light. They were small, maybe only 160 centimetres or so, and they had...breasts? He got beaten up...and abducted...by a woman...on his birthday. He couldn't see much in the space of the outfit that was for their eyes, but it looked like they were quite pale-skinned.

"SURPRISE!" yelled a chorus of people very loudly, and they jumped out from behind doors, and from behind couches. The light turned on as well, and it took his eyes a moment to adjust before he could make out the people in the room.

"Rangiku-san! Iba-san! Kira-san! Ikkaku! Yumichika! Hisagi-san! What are you guys doing here? What the hell is going on?!" he said, utterly confused at this whole situation. He looked back at the person dressed in black who took off their face mask and revealed themselves. "SIREN?! You beat me up and abducted me?!" he asked with a slightly shrill tone, and a hint of embarrassment.

"Welcome to your surprise birthday party, Renji." Siren replied simply with her arms crossed and a look that said that she found this situation  _very_ amusing.

"If this is my birthday party...why did you beat me up and bring me here?!"

"Because it was a surprise, and it was more fun this way. And this is where we are having the party." Siren gestured with a smirk to the house around them. The place must be huge, at least five or six bedrooms.

Renji laughed incredulously at the situation, and slowly came to terms with the fact that this is probably exactly something that Siren would do. Especially the beating him up part, probably to make up for her generosity. He was feeling alright now, and he stood up and shook his head as everyone came out from their hiding places and brought bottle after bottle after bottle of sake with them as well as lots of food.

They all sat down on the floor and the couches and began opening bottles, eating, pouring drinks and talking.  _So much for a quiet one,_ Renji thought but he knew that this was much better than sitting at home and having a few drinks by himself. Everyone probably put a lot of effort into this and he was really grateful that they went to all that trouble just for him. It had been a while since he had a proper birthday celebration and this was perfect. His friends were here, gathered together for him.

"Hey guys, can I say something for a second?" Renji got everyone's attention and they all quietened down and waited for him to speak. "Uh, I just wanted to thank you for going to this much effort for me. You didn't have to, but I won't deny that it isn't awesome... By the way, what's with this house? It's huge!" he asked, looking up at the high ceilings. Siren popped out from one of the doors, back in her normal shinigami uniform and spoke before anyone else could.

"That was pretty lame, Renji." he turned around to look at her and mock-glare at the woman who seemed to be even more amused by his embarrassing comment. "And the house? Well...I bought it."

Everyone's thoughts seemed to run along the same tracks and they all spoke in unison. " _What?!_ "

Siren chuckled at the reaction. "Well, I'm a captain, and we do make a fair bit of money. I haven't had anything to spend it on, and this place was up for sale for pretty cheap...so I bought it, figuring that we could all use it."

"Really? You did that for all of us?" Matsumoto spoke up, in awe of the subtle kindness the green-eyed captain showed for them all.

"Yeah. Don't worry about it, it's nothing." Siren waved her hand to try and take the attention away from her gesture. She was never one to like being put on the spot, whether it was in a positive or negative way. She much preferred to hang in the background and stay away from the centre of attention.

"Are you kidding? Siren, this is a lot more than nothing!" Kira said, moving his hands around to show that he was speaking about the house that they were all allowed to use. Both Ikkaku and Yumichika voiced their agreement and they all began to talk at once about it.

"Can it, the lot of you! This is Renji's night, so let's drink up!" Siren was relieved to finally take the attention off of herself, diverting it back to the birthday boy.

"So, a toast to Renji...Good on you for getting beaten up by my captain, who is a girl half your size!" Hisagi said with barely restrained laughter and raised his cup.

"Shut it, Hisagi! She's strong! She carried me over her shoulder the whole way here!" Renji retorted sharply, trying to make excuses for himself.

"I'll drink to that." Siren said with a chuckle, and shrugged when Renji glared at her. " _Anyway_... to Renji! Happy birthday, man. Kanpai!" Siren raised her cup and everyone did the same, and they all drained the contents and put their cups back down on the table.

About two hours later, everyone was feeling the effects of the alcohol and Kira already looked like he was nearly about to pass out. Iba had decided to stop drinking after one bottle as he had a lot of work to do the next day and didn't want a huge hangover. Yumichika never had much as he didn't think it was 'beautiful' to get drunk, but that also meant that his tolerance was low. Ikkaku was probably one of the most sober as he had a pretty high tolerance. Hisagi, Renji and Matsumoto were at about the same level of intoxication and Siren was probably the most sober of them all. After being drinking buddies with a renowned alcoholic, Captain Kyoraku Shunsui, for so many years, it was only natural that she had a really high tolerance.

"Everyone, may I have your attention please." she said and she got up and stood at the front of the room so everyone could see her. "It is time for a game that I learnt about in the real world. It's usually played when everyone is quite tipsy, and so I believe it would be appropriate to play now."

"Heeeyy...I-I'm not tipsy!" Kira slurred loudly and hiccuped several times.

"You just keep telling yourself that Kira." Hisagi said with a laugh. "So, what's this game?"

"It is called ' _Truth Or Dare'_. One person starts and chooses someone to either do a dare, or answer a question  _truthfully_. Then the person has to do the dare or answer the question and then they choose someone else, and it just keeps going and going. So firstly, let's all sit in a circle on the floor." Siren explained and pulled the table with the bottles and cups over slightly so it would be in the middle of the circle and they all sat down around the table.

"Okay, I'll start since I proposed the idea." she looked around the circle and tried to decide who she would pick. Her gaze landed on the red-haired, tattooed man sitting directly across from her "Birthday boy! Truth or dare?"

Renji thought for a few moments before answering. "I think I'm going to take truth. I don't trust you to make a dare that won't be  _too_  bad."

"Damn, 'cause I had a really good dare lined up for you. Alright, answer me this Renji... How do you feel about... _Kuchiki Rukia_?!" Siren said so quietly that everyone leant forward subconsciously to hear better. Renji tensed visibly and blushed violently until he was as red as the hair on his head. Everyone was silent and looked at him, waiting for his answer.

"Shit...I like her, okay? I've liked her for ages. But I'm pretty sure that she's got no idea how I feel and besides, her and Ichigo are going to be together before we will ever be, so I'm getting over it." he said, and blushed even redder, if that was somehow possible.

Everyone but Siren either gasped or dropped their jaw in response to the revelation. Siren had known all along. Every time he talked about Rukia, he always got this little glint in his eye. She would admit that it could just be easily mistaken as love for a close friend who he had grown up with and spent most of his life being around, but Siren knew better than that. Renji was pretty easy to read after a while. But it was also true that the orange-haired substitute shinigami and the petite, black-haired Kuchiki cared for each other and maybe just not in a friendly way. Renji was probably right about them, and they would more than likely end being something other than platonic.

"Alright, my turn. I'll choose Rangiku-san." Renji said and pointed to her, who looked quite excited at the prospect of being picked. She chose dare and Renji thought for a moment before a wicked smirk came across his face.

"I dare you to...peck Siren on the lips." he said, triumph evident in his tone as if he was getting vengeance for his earlier embarrassment.

Matsumoto and Siren turned to look at each other, they both shrugged nonchalantly, as if the whole thing didn't bother them at all. Matsumoto giggled as Siren turned her body around to face her fully and they both leaned forward, and every other person in the room scuffled around so they could see better and their jaws dropped as the lips of the two beautiful women in front of them made contact. When they pulled back, there was a few quiet groans of disappointment and the two women just laughed at everyone's expressions. It was quiet for a few moments before Matsumoto spoke in her melodic voice.

"Shuuhei, truth or dare?" she asked and Hisagi's expression changed from 'Oh my god...did that seriously just happen?' to a more contemplative one.

"Well, we've just had two dares, but I'm going to pick dare anyway." he replied, his mind still a little fuzzy from what he'd just seen.

"I dare  _you_...to kiss Siren" she said, with a slightly evil glint in her eye that didn't go unnoticed by Siren.

"Hah! Well, aren't I the popular one tonight!" Siren asked rhetorically while scratching the back of her head. This was getting a little bit too much for her, but she had been the one to suggest the game, so she knew she couldn't back out now.

Hisagi took a deep breath and sighed quietly, knowing that he'd probably pay for having to do this later on. He turned to Siren, smirking faintly but relaxed slightly when he noticed that Siren didn't seem to care one way or the other about the whole thing. She seemed completely nonchalant and casual about the whole thing.  _Sounds about right, she just wouldn't care since it's a game. But still, I do get to kiss the new most attractive woman in the Gotei 13,_ he thought briefly as he shifted towards her.

"You going to keep me waiting, Hisagi?" Siren's voice snapped him out of his thoughts and she was looking at him with an expression that said 'You don't have to be so embarrassed. We are all adults here'.

He gently, yet firmly placed his hand around the back of Siren's neck, and swiftly pressed his lips against her soft ones. He wrapped a hand around her waist and pulled her closer, but pulled back quickly after, not wanting to lose himself in the moment. Everyone roared with laughter at the sight.

"Please don't kill me for that later." he said cautiously as he noticed Siren's unreadable expression. He couldn't see that slightly evil look in her eye that signified that she was about to do something to him, like when he accidentally called her 'taicho' she would usually enact some sort of violence on him. He had actually been chased around their division's barracks several times, though it never took long for Siren to catch him and she laughed maniacally at his terror when he got caught.

For at least the next hour, they all sat around talking, laughing, daring each other to do stupid things, and answering or asking embarrassing questions. Soon enough, Kira had passed out on the floor so they put him to bed and decided to stop playing. Siren told them about which rooms the rest of them would be staying in. Matsumoto would stay in with Siren, Hisagi would be in with Kira and Ikkaku and Yumichika would share a room as well, and Renji and Iba had their own room. She also told them that she had some help from a friend who taught her how to make a good barrier, which she put around the house and it only allowed their reiatsu in. They all thanked Siren for doing all this, who just dismissed the comments with a wave of her hand as usual.

Iba, Ikkaku and Yumichika decided to call it quits for the night and Matsumoto, Renji, Hisagi and Siren decided to stay up for a while longer. None of them minded loosing a little bit of sleep to hang out and get to know the new captain a bit better, but outside of a professional situation. Matsumoto and Hisagi began talking about how Siren was as a captain and how they worked together. Renji and Siren were talking casually, but a few minutes later, Hisagi noticed that it seemed like the two were flirting. Siren didn't seem like the flirting type, but you never knew with her.

Renji had a look on his face as if he seemed a little embarrassed, but didn't seem to slow down on the conversation they were having. Hisagi recalled how he said that he was trying to get over Rukia, and he realised that he might be trying to flirt with Siren to forget her. He knew that her and Renji met long before she came back to Soul Society, and he couldn't help but wonder if something happened between them. Siren did hang out with him quite often, and this thought just made him more suspicious.

He had no idea why, but jealousy began to bubble up inside him. Jealousy and alcohol never went well together, as he decided to do something quite rash. A stray bang fell over Matsumoto's face, and he gently pushed it out of the way and whispered something in her ear, hoping that Siren would notice.

What he didn't know, is that not one thing Hisagi had done that night went unnoticed by Siren. He pulled back and Matsumoto looked like she was quite amused by something. And she couldn't help but become rather infuriated by the display.

**Seems like someone's a little jealous, yeah? Why don't you let me out, and I'll tell 'em all how ya really feel about him doin' that to her?**

_Can it, Utsuro. This isn't the time for your shit. I shouldn't be jealous or angry about it anyway. It's not like I'm dating Hisagi or something. I don't even like him as more than a friend!_

**Are ya sure about that though? You two have been hanging out a lot. Crashin' at his place, you both sleeping in your office and such.**

_Ugh, I really hate you. We_ work  _together you fool. Of course we're going to spend a lot of time together and all that. I've had enough of you. Piss off._

It was amazing that she was able to keep up her inner conversations and her external one at the same time, but after putting up with it for the last 30 years, it wasn't too hard for her any more. Siren covered it up by saying she was going to head off to bed and Renji decided to as well. They walked down the hallway out of Hisagi's sight so Siren could show Renji to his room, but Hisagi couldn't help but think she was going there for something else. A few minutes later, Matsumoto decided to crash as well, but instead of heading towards Siren's room, she just went straight into Kira's which was the closest and fell asleep on the futon that he was supposed to be sleeping on. He decided to stay up and wait to see when - if - Siren ever came out of Renji's room.

If only he knew what was  _really_  happening...

"Renji, seriously. I don't get it but as soon as he started getting all flirty with her, I just instantly became really pissed off and jealous. I don't even like him!" Siren whispered angrily trying to explain to Renji why she went suddenly extremely quiet and pensive.

"Usually people don't get pissed off and jealous unless they  _do_  like the person. It doesn't matter if you do like him, Siren. No one would think any less of you for dating a subordinate if that's what you're worried about." Renji whispered back pleadingly, hoping that he could through Siren's stubborn front.

"I've only ever had feelings for one person in my life, and that was when I was back in Soul Society however many years ago it was. He got killed on a mission and I got over it. End of. I don't feel that same way about Hisagi." she was a little frustrated at the tone of conversation, and Renji could see it but he knew that something wasn't exactly right with how she acted around Hisagi.

There was plenty of other guys that she was around all the time, like himself, and he had known her for a long time. He knew that she had never gotten jealous over him, or jealous of Urahara and Yoruichi's relationship. She just needed to stop being so stubborn and let her heart think for a change.

"Siren...speaking from experience here, liking one person and liking another person always has a different feeling. In a lot of ways, yes you do feel the same, but it's different because it's someone you haven't liked before and you like them for different reasons. I really used to like Rukia, but now I like someone else and I'm trying to get the courage up to tell them how I feel. I do like her the same way I liked Rukia, it isn't the same feeling as when I liked Rukia."

"Yeah, yeah. But I'm telling you that I don't feel anything for Hisagi! Just because it would be different from liking him to liking Tenka back in the day, it doesn't mean I like him!"

"I guess that's true. We're both as stubborn as each other." Renji said, shaking his head.

"Fricking Utsuro isn't helping either" Siren mumbled barely audibly, and it if it wasn't for Renji sitting right next to her, he wouldn't have heard what she said. He raised an eyebrow and Siren looked slightly horrified as she realised her mistake. "Heh, I probably should have told you before, but now is as good as any time. I'm a vizard...ta-dah!" she shook her hands in a sarcastic manner to emphasise the 'ta-dah'.

"Really? And you're allowed to be a captain? Awesome." Renji said, not being bothered much by the news since one of his good friends - even though he'd never admit he was friends with the orange-haired bastard - was a vizard. "Anyway, we can discuss all this later on when they're aren't several other people around trying to sleep. I'm going to bed." he got under the covers and rolled over, his back facing Siren.

Without another word, Siren left his room to walk back out into the living room to find Hisagi, sitting on the floor, drinking. She asked where Matsumoto went, and he said that she passed out in Kira's room, but he was being very short and cool. Not thinking much of it, figuring that he was pissed because he wanted to talk to Matsumoto more or something, she headed off to bed, and reminded him that he could just crash on the spare futon in her room.

Hisagi just sat in the living room, with no intention to stop drinking until he passed out right there on the floor. He knew that he would regret it tomorrow, but he wasn't planning on leaving his office, so it wouldn't be so bad if he had the worst headache possible and felt like he had been hit by a train.

It only took him half an hour to drink another two bottles and crash out on the floor of the living room.

#

The next morning, Siren woke up early, and found that nearly everyone was gone. Kira and Matsumoto were still sound asleep, but they both had the day off, so she just left them as they were. Iba would have been gone much earlier than anyone else, probably to train with Komamura, and Ikkaku, Yumichika and Renji would be long gone as well.

She got ready for the day and headed over to her office at a very casual pace. She considered stopping off at Ukitake's since she hadn't seen him in a few days because she'd been so busy, but decided against it when she remembered how much paper work she had to complete. A groan escaped her as she frowned about the thought of paperwork.

So for the next three hours, she worked, signing, writing and everything in between on the large stack of paper work that had been dropped off to her yesterday morning. She finished a few reports that she had to get Hisagi to sign, and she figured it would be a good break to go over and give them to him, and also to talk to him about last night. She had noticed that the futon next to her hadn't been used and guessed that he probably just passed out in the living room.

Before she knew it, she was at his office and she knocked once before entering. It was across the hall and down a few metres from her office. She greeted him casually, not looking up from reading over the papers making sure she had fixed everything she had to. He didn't reply, just kept his head down, looking at the papers in front of him, and she put the paper work down on his desk and slapped the table loudly to get his attention. He slowly looked up at her with a displeased look and she just guessed his mood hadn't changed.

"What's up with you, huh?" she asked, leaning over the desk to rest both her elbows on his desk and rest her chin on her hands. He narrowed his eyes at her, and she just raised an eyebrow. Was he mad...at her?

"Nothing, just tired." she didn't moved or change her expression so he rolled his eyes and continued. "You think about it for a while. I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually." he said coolly, and looked back down and continued his paper work. Well, that confirmed her thoughts. He was pissed at her.

That kind of thing always bored Siren. She wasn't the kind of person who liked the confrontation and attention of being complimented or thanked, she could tolerate confrontation when it was solving a problem, especially between two people who may have just had nothing more than a simple misunderstanding. She just rolled her eyes like he did, which Hisagi only just saw and she put her hands in her pockets as she usually had them and walked out of his office.

The black-haired woman strolled out of the barracks, feeling quite tired of doing paper work, and she figured that she could do it later. She went to her favourite place in Rukongai mountains and sat in her usual spot, even though it was an overcast day and it probably would rain soon. It was only when she got there did she take Hisagi's advice and think about what she might have done. It couldn't be anything that happened when they were playing Truth Or Dare, as he seemed pretty pleased with himself that he actually got to kiss her.

Crossing most of the previous night's events off of her metaphorical list, she eventually came to the one part that may actually could possibly make sense. When she was teaching Renji some moves and pick-up lines to use on his new crush that she had used on her in the real world, it may have looked like they were...flirting. She almost cracked up out loud at the idea, but realised that he only seemed pissed off when she came back out from talking to Renji about her being jealous that he was paying such intimate attention to Matsumoto.

_When she thought it over, she considered that may have seriously been the reason and her amusement faded instantly at the revelation. She hated the fact that he might be so angry at her over something like that, but she also realised that her being upset could signify some sort of deeper feeling. Maybe Renji was right, and she did like him._

As if the heavens feel her despair, it began to rain. She looked up and narrowed her eyes at the sky, even though she knew it wouldn't help. Soon enough, she began to feel worse about the whole thing as she continued to dwell on it. It was normal for her, since a lot of her negative feelings originated from her being a vizard. Fiddling with her reiatsu sealing bracelet, as she had somehow made a habit of doing when she was thinking, she sighed.

Accidentally, she popped open the clasp on the bracelet. Her fast reflexes did nothing as the wet metal slipped right through her fingers, and down the mountain side. She knew that now that meant she would have to keep a strangle-hold on her reiatsu, or someone may sense it and figure out what she really was. That would add to her list of problems that just seemed to be growing lately, instead of slowly shrinking.

Siren had never dealt well with these kinds of things. She had too much work to do, and barely any free time, keeping her hollow side a secret, and now she had troubles in the men department, which could also cause problems in the work department. She was always the laid back and carefree type, and just solved one problem at her own pace, but this wasn't the kind of situation she could do that in. Her frustration with the predicament increased and unconsciously, her reiatsu began to leak out, which was bad, especially with weather like this.

Gradually, the small rumbles of thunder got louder and louder, and lightning began to appear in the clouds. A particularly loud clap of thunder snapped her out of her reverie and she immediately suppressed her reiatsu, realising that she was causing the sudden severity of the storm. A scarily familiar tingle appeared as she sensed a Garganta opening nearby, about three or four districts away. She guessed that her reiatsu was what drew whatever was about to come out of it. She growled irritably and knew that someone else would be there soon enough. Her current emotional turmoil would make it too dangerous for her to be there using her reiatsu with whoever was ordered to eliminate the hollow.

Back in the Seireitei, the emergency alarms were going off.

"Gotei 13, emergency, emergency! Hollow have appeared in East Rukongai, District Fifty-Four! There are twenty Gillian and one Adjuchas!" At the sound of the announcement, everyone in the Seireitei stopped to wait for the orders of their Captain-Commander, who's voice boomed out only a minute later.

"Attention. Ninth Division is to eliminate the infiltrating hollow! Complete all preparations for battle and mobilise immediately!"

Hisagi was still sulking in his office when he heard the message, and several members ran to his office to wait for orders. He had no idea where Siren was, but if she was in the Seireitei she would have heard the orders, and if she was in Rukongai still, she probably would have felt the Garganta open. Even though they were going up against strong and multiple opponents, the Ninth Division were well known for their efficiency and planning and he figured that they would be fine without the command of their captain.

Gathering together the fourteen shinigami he deemed best for the job, excluding himself, they set out immediately in the direction of East Rukongai, District Fifty-Four. They arrived there quickly to find the twenty Gillian standing around in a daze as usual and the Adjuchas was looking around at it's surroundings. On sight of the approaching enemy, it commanded the Gillian to begin firing Cero after Cero at them and luckily, most of them were able to dodge the red bursts of concentrated reiatsu. After a few minutes, they had two injured, and had only taken out four of the twenty Gillian. Hisagi drew his zanpakuto and charged into battle.

Up in the mountains, Siren made sure to keep a close watch on the fight to make sure that if something was going seriously wrong, she would fulfil her duty as a captain and get down there immediately. She could sense the different spikes of shinigami and hollow reiatsu. Then, she noticed the sudden drop in two shinigami reiatsu and a moment later she felt a sudden surge from the all too familiar reiatsu of her lieutenant and realised that it must be her division down there.

There was a strong pang in her chest when she felt Hisagi's reiatsu, and her breath hitched in her throat. It seemed like time stopped and her feelings of concern and fear for his life and his safety became too much to bear. She had to know if he was okay. She had to get down there. Now.

She used her full speed shunpo to get down from the mountain as quick as possible and was at the scene of the fight within one minute. Two of the injured noticed her there, and called out to her. She went over and looked them over, and after seeing that they looked like they had been hit by a Cero but their lives weren't in any danger, she used shunpo to move them back out of the way.

Drawing her zanpakuto, she called out over the sound of the rain for the twelve others to pull back immediately. The ones at the back heard her, and passed on the message to anyone who hadn't heard. At the sight of their captain drawing her zanpakuto, they all fell back and Hisagi noticed everyone vanishing and turned around to see Siren standing there, soaking wet with her zanpakuto in hand.

It was then that a Gillian powered up a Cero aimed directly at him, which Siren noticed. Her eyes went wide and her heart stopped beating within her chest. Without realising it she was in front of Hisagi with her mask on and hitting the Cero away with the back of her hand. If it wasn't for the rain, she would have heard the various gasps of the members of her division at the sight of their captain with a hollow mask on, and her reiatsu feeling scarily more like a hollow than a shinigami. Siren told Hisagi to hold them off for the moment, took off the mask, and disappeared only to reappear where everyone had gathered.

Hisagi was too busy to hear his captain acting just like her title suggested. She gave out the orders for everyone to get in groups of three or four and to surround and concentrate on one Gillian at a time, and told two of the others to protect the wounded and do any first aid that they could on them. In the rush, everyone forgot about what they had just seen and acted on her orders immediately. Within the next few minutes, five Gillian had been taken down, and there had been no more injuries.

Siren concentrated hard, looking for an opening on the Adjuchas commanding the numerous Gillian. It had commanded them all to stand in front of him, and in essence, create a large barrier around him to protect him. Another minute passed and there was still no way past the 'barrier'. She lost her patience, and yelled out for everyone to fall back again. After they did, she ordered Hisagi to make sure that anything that past her, didn't get past him. She released her zanpakuto and it changed from the normal katana to the silver scythe that was as big as her, put on her mask and charged. Everyone knew already, and if they got too tired to keep fighting, that would only cause injury and death. She wouldn't risk their lives if she could avoid it.

She used her full speed and within moments half the Gillian were gone and she charged up her own Cero to counter the two that were being aimed at her. Her green-coloured Cero blast easily through the two and the Gillian that fired them disintegrated after being hit. Within another few moments, the remaining Gillian were killed by strikes of lightning that Siren had conjured, and all that remained was the Adjuchas standing, now by himself, looking shocked at the sight of a shinigami wearing a hollow mask.

"What's your name, shinigami?" the Adjuchas spoke above the rain.

Siren rested the large silver scythe on her shoulder and replied. "Gotei Juu-san, Kyubantai taicho, Siren. And I'm no shinigami, Adjuchas." she spoke through her masked in that shaky, hollow voice.

Using every ounce of speed she had, she disappeared and momentarily appeared above the Adjuchas and swung down her scythe to slice straight through the hollows head. It disintegrated and Siren landed silently where the Adjuchas stood moments ago. If Siren thought that her accidental reiatsu release earlier was bad, it would end up being nothing compared to the one that was about to take place. She turned to look out the corner of her eye at her division members, just like she had done with Hisagi that day that he had found out about her being a vizard. The moment she saw their mix of fearful, shocked, judging and almost angry expressions, there was a deafening clap of thunder and a bolt of lightning struck a tree nearby.

Hisagi realised when she was fighting that her power must be the manipulation of lightning, and he knew that this could end bad if she didn't calm down. He already had a pretty good idea of what the division's initial reaction would be to this, considering that their last captain had betrayed them and ended up being more hollow than shinigami, and he knew that Siren wouldn't be able to deal with that negativity. He started to walk forward but stopped as Siren re-gripped her zanpakuto in warning for him to stay away.

She couldn't concentrate on anything but the feel of misery emanating from her chest, which physically hurt from the pain and worry. She was convinced that her division would hate her, and that was a hard pill to swallow. But Hisagi hating her? She just couldn't handle it. She could not fathom the man she had truly come to

Before anyone had realised it, she was gone, leaving only the destroyed tree in her wake.

#

It had been two days since the event. No one knew where Siren went, and no one had found her. And the storm that started the moment Siren saw the look of shock on her division members faces still hadn't let up at all. Yamamoto was quite angry at her disappearance, but Ukitake, Shunsui as well as Komamura assured him that she just needed some time. Ukitake had also taken to inform the Ninth Division personally as well as every other division about the circumstances surrounding Siren's transformation from a shinigami to a vizard. The Ninth Division were very honourable and surprisingly open-minded and had a new found respect for their captain for doing so much for Ukitake. Everyone loved the white-haired captain, and they all couldn't deny that without Siren's sacrifice, he wouldn't be around, and for that they had accepted her for what she was.

Yamamoto had ordered Soifon to have members of the Onmitsukido and the Second Division who weren't busy to search for her, but they found absolutely no trace of her. Even Soifon had to admit that she certainly had exceptional skill at concealing her presence and leaving no trail. Something that only an ex-Onmitsukido and ex-Second Division member who was very skilled would have been able to do.

When another day had passed, Hisagi became even more worried. He couldn't help but wonder if Siren had fled to the real world, and he knew that if she was there, they would probably never be able to find her. The rain had let up for a while, and even though it was going to get dark soon, he was wandering around the area where it all happened. He didn't expect to find anything that might help, but it was worth a try. He'd been searching ever since she ran off, and he probably only had about six hours sleep and only ate something twice. Suddenly, the rain started coming down in buckets and the thunder became incredibly loud again, he took shelter under a small overhang at the base of a mountain nearby. Something shiny glinted out the corner of his eye a few metres away, and for the sake of plain curiosity he went to see what it was.

It was Siren's bracelet.

He picked it up, and dusted off the dirt that had collected on it. He clutched it so tightly that it left marks on his palm and his breath shook with strong emotion. On a whim, he looked up at the mountain, and guessed that if he looked and found nothing, he'd just be back where he was. After about half an hour of climbing and exploring, he was nearly at the top and he noticed what looked like a small path through the bushes. He pushed them aside as he climbed through, and came out to a large flat slab looking over the Rukongai. It was an amazing view. He walked out further onto it, and just barely noticed movement in his peripheral vision.

There was a small, soaking wet white bundle on the ground. When he noticed a tuft of wet, black hair coming from one side, his earlier thoughts were confirmed.

"Siren? Is that you?" he said, and ran over when the bundle began to shift.

She sat up shakily, and Hisagi took in her appearance. She looked terrible. From what he could see through the wet hair that stuck to her face, it looked like she hadn't slept in a month and she was even paler than usual. She also looked rather skinny and gaunt. He bent down on one knee in front of her, but she seemed adamant about keeping her head down.

"How the hell did you manage to find me?" she asked, her voice faint and raspy from not using it for so long, feeling that pain in her chest - something she had become intimately familiar with over the last few days - intensify as he got closer to her.

"Your bracelet was at the base of the mountain. Lucky that I bothered to check up here." he held out his hand with the bracelet in it, and with the other, gently took hold of Siren's wrist and put it on. Almost instantaneously, the rain let up and the rumbles of thunder and lightning slowly disappeared.

Siren looked down at the bracelet and lifted her head slightly to look at Hisagi, who was seriously considering just using a Bakudo on her and taking her to the Fourth Division barracks. Knowing her, she would be too stubborn to go willingly. When he saw her looking up at him with eyes so sad, he just melted on the spot. He tilted his head as if to ask her to come with him, and reluctantly, she nodded and got up on shaky legs. Hisagi carried her down the mountain and through Rukongai, since she didn't seem to have the strength. They walked all the way back to the Seireitei and Siren finally had enough of being carried.

With a laugh, he put her down, and as they walked, it was only Hisagi's gesturing for anyone who noticed Siren to leave her be for the moment that stopped her from being bombarded by random shinigami. She occasionally looked like she was going to fall, but stayed steady. Renji just happened to be walking by and noticed the small form of Siren walking next to Hisagi, who looked like he was ready to catch her if she showed any signs of fainting.

Hisagi shook his head and mouthed 'Later' to him, and Renji just nodded in response and started walking again. He knew that he would see Siren soon, and by the looks of her she was probably going to be put in the Fourth Division. After a few minutes of slow walking through the Seireitei, they came to the First Division barracks. He had no idea what Siren was doing here, but if he had to take a guess, she was probably going to see the So-taicho. He knew that she was feeling terrible right now, and was worried about the punishment the resolute old man would dole out. If she got fired from being a Captain, it would break him.

"I'll only be a minute." she said over her shoulder and walked into the building. She knew that the old man was going to be really pissed with her, but she figured that going and seeing him when she looked like this might help her play the sympathy card. She might even pretend to pass out or something just to make it look really good and legitimate. Though she tried to make light of the situation to ease her anxiety, she just couldn't fool herself, and her stomach dropped in preparation.

Every person that she walked past watched her silently with shock, leaving wet footprints behind her. It was quite unexpected for her to just turn up randomly when every effort they had made to find her had failed. She went to Yamamoto's office, and no one contested with her, let alone say a word to her. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door to find him sitting at his desk, doing something or other that didn't concern her right now. He looked a little surprised to see her and she basically dragged herself until she stood in front of his desk, kneeled down and bowed respectfully.

"I apologise for my irrational behaviour. My own emotional turmoil made it too hard to come back here after what happened. I did not wish for anyone to think that I was betraying them in any way. Again, I sincerely apologise for the extreme inconvenience I have caused. I will ensure any work needing to be done over the last few days will be handed in promptly and without error." she said quietly with her weak voice, but as professionally as she could.

Yamamoto didn't get the chance to say anything as the door opened abruptly and in burst Ukitake and Kyoraku. They looked rather shocked at her appearance and they both let out the breath that they had both been holding since she disappeared. They both knew that she would come back soon, but they couldn't help but become a little worried about her especially with the severity of the weather. It had always been a big hint to figure out how she felt.

"Genryusai-sensei, I'm sorry for the intrusion but I think we should get Siren to the Fourth Division barracks immediately." Ukitake spoke with urgency, and with every hint of worry that he had experienced these past few days.

The old man nodded, knowing that this was probably the last place she should be until she was in good health. He did appreciate her coming to apologise to him first, but at the moment it ranked second to her being healthy again. If she was to stay on as a Captain, she needed to be healthy again. Ukitake and Kyoraku led Siren out of the office and Hisagi was waiting there. Without a word to either of the two captains, he picked Siren up bridal-style and began to carry her out of the First Division barracks and to the Fourth Division.

It didn't take them long to get there, and luckily Unohana was walking through the hallway and noticed Ukitake, Kyoraku and Hisagi carrying the small, wet, sorry bundle that was the Ninth Division's taicho. She walked briskly to meet them and showed them to one of the private rooms that was usually used for higher ranking shinigami. Hisagi laid her down on the bed, and within moments, healers were buzzing in and out of the room, performing whatever tasks they needed to. After examining Siren for a few minutes, Unohana made a diagnosis.

"She has severe dehydration, as well as being sleep deprived and quite malnourished. After staying here for a few days of rest, she'll be perfectly fine." Unohana said in her kind voice before excusing herself and leaving the room to do sort out Siren's treatment. She came back in after a moment, bringing Siren some warm, dry clothes and a towel, and Siren quickly changed in the bathroom before laying back down on the bed.

"Siren-chan, you shouldn't have made us worry so much! We had almost half of the Onmitsukido and Second Division out searching for you! We told Soifon not to worry, because we knew that they wouldn't find you, but she insisted." Shunsui said, and even though the connotation was scolding, his tone held nothing more than relief.

She was quiet for a few moments before she inhaled and asked the question that had been the thing preventing her from coming back. "Does everyone know?"

"Yes. I personally explained the circumstances to every single division." Ukitake answered softly, indescribably glad that his surrogate daughter was alright.

"And?" Siren asked quietly, even though she was quite certain she didn't want to know the answer.

"You'll just have to find out for yourself." Kyoraku said cryptically, though his tone hinted that everything would be fine.

The flamboyantly dressed man had noticed that Hisagi looked very worried about her when they saw him waiting out the front of the First Division barracks and it was only now that he had seemed to calm down. Over the last few days, he had come to see both him and Ukitake at least once every day, asking if Siren had come by, or if they had thought of anywhere that she might be. It seemed like he hadn't slept or eaten since she had disappeared, and he knew exactly why he was so worried. Not just because she was his Captain.

Being as old as they were, it was quite easy for them to realise that Hisagi was very much fond of Siren, and he had been so worked up about her disappearance. It was highly possible that he was more worried than the two of them were. They both knew that it was just like Siren to run off in those situations, not because of a lack of courage, but because she had always been very considerate of everyone around her, and she wouldn't be able to stand anyone she cared for thinking badly of her or disappointing anyone. But Hisagi hadn't know her for as long or as well as they did. Shunsui looked at his white-haired friend, and they knew what the other was thinking right away.

"Well, now that we know you're okay, we'll take our leave for the time being. Either of us have barely slept since you disappeared, so we'll get some rest and come to see you again soon." Kyoraku spoke and gestured for Ukitake to follow him. They both said goodbye to Siren who made a sound of assent in reply and Hisagi, who said good night and bowed to them both respectfully, being the ever-professional Lieutenant.

A few minutes of silence past, and Hisagi finally decided to speak up. "...you have no idea how worried I was about you. I thought you might have gone to the real world." he said so quietly it was more like a whisper, and he sat down on Siren's hospital bed.

"Sorry." she replied just as quietly. She let her head fall back, and rested it on the comfortable pillows and shut her eyes. She felt Hisagi shift for a few moments and opened her eyes to find him laying down next to her, looking like he was struggling to stay awake.

She moved over to make room for him and he laid down on his back and exhaled contentedly, glad that he could finally stop worrying about the girl who's presence he had dearly missed, even though it was only for a few days. He put his arms behind his head and shut his eyes, but they snapped back open when he felt Siren's still cold body  _much_ closer to his than it was before. She laid her head down on his chest, and put her arm over him and sighed sleepily. He brought his arms out from under his head and put one hand on her waist and his larger hand over her smaller pale one that was sitting on his stomach. He smiled sleepily and pulled her closer to him.

Within moments, they had both fallen asleep.


	4. A Game of Tag

**Chapter 4 – A Game Of Tag**

Siren stirred the next morning and sighed sleepily before opening her eyes. There was a blue-eyed, blonde-haired woman whose face was only a foot away from hers and she yelped in shock. The woman stood up to her full height and through tired eyes, Siren recognised Matsumoto. She glanced next to where Siren was laying with a highly amused expression that told her to look. Lazily, Siren lifted her head and looked down to notice a black kimono that was clothing the person that she was resting her head on a few moments ago. She turned her head to look further up the person's body and saw a clearly male hand on the top of hers that was resting on the man's stomach.

She remembered someone laying down next to her when she was brought in here yesterday, and yelped again when she realised that is who she was snuggled up to. Her Lieutenant, Hisagi Shuhei. She looked up at his face, and noticed that his eyes were open and he had one brow raised in question of her behaviour. She yelped even louder and sat up, realising that he was awake. He smirked sheepishly in response and inwardly, Siren's mental expression dead panned at the sight of a smirk that would melt any normal woman where they stood...or laid, in this instance. Before her outward expression could match her inner one, Unohana came in the room and smiled seeing both Siren and Hisagi on the bed. Hisagi realised abruptly and awkwardly scrambled to sit on the edge of the bed as the Fourth Division taicho walked over to stand next to the bed.

"Siren, how are you feeling today?" Unohana asked softly, her voice leaving no insight to her thoughts about the sight she saw only moments ago.

"Um, I'm feeling fine. And I'm sorry for all this hassle." Siren replied, scratching the back of her head nervously, hoping that the captain didn't think she was a burden by doing this to herself.

"No, not at all. It is completely understandable that you were worried about facing the people you care about when there was a possibility that they might think ill of you." she dismissed Siren's apology and her kind smile grew, comforting Siren a little, who gave a small wistful smile before Unohana spoke again. "Good news, you have recovered so fast that we can let you out of here today, but you will need to make sure that you get some good rest. I'll be back shortly to examine you one last time." she bowed faintly and excused herself, leaving Matsumoto, Hisagi and Siren in the room. It was quiet for a minute before someone broke the silence.

"Hey Siren. About what Unohana-taicho said...is that why you didn't come back?" Matsumoto asked softly, not wanting to unintentionally upset her green-eyed friend. Siren just muttered her confirmation and Matsumoto just walked over and stood her up before pulling her in a breath taking hug. "You're an idiot for assuming that we would think badly of you. We were all so worried!" she said and finally let Siren go, who coughed a few times before waving her hand in dismissal.

"It doesn't matter anymore. The only thing we have to worry about now is what the old man will do to me. I bet he's  _really_  pissed off with me..." she trailed off and they all faintly shuddered at the idea of their Captain-Commander getting angry. He was terrifying enough, without being angry.

They talked for about fifteen minutes or so, before the white haired prodigy, Tenth Division captain showed up in the doorway, claiming that he guessed Matsumoto would be here. He asked Siren how she's feeling, and she said that she's feeling fine now and Hitsugaya nodded once in reply and nearly had to drag Matsumoto out of the room. After they left, Hisagi laid back down on the bed, horizontally with his arms behind his head, and Siren laid back as well, her head resting on him again and they both closed their eyes. Hisagi couldn't stop a smile from forming on his face, but his expression went serious again as he heard Siren sigh quietly.

"Oi. Are you really okay?" he said quietly, with a tone that suggested that he knew she was lying when she said that she was fine.

She growled faintly in irritation, since she realised that he must have seen straight through her. "Not really... I'll get there eventually..." she trailed off, when she noticed a faint scent that she hadn't noticed in the room before. It was familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She opened her eyes and turned her head and looked at the doorway to see the large form of Komamura standing there, a shadow of a smirk on his canine features. Hisagi felt her turn her head and noticed her stiffen and he looked at the doorway as well, and they both yelped in unison - Hisagi's being barely audible and much lower in pitch - and scrambled to sit up again, in turn making the smirk on the Seventh Division captain's face all the more obvious.

They both respectfully greeted him and Hisagi took his leave, saying that he should probably go to work, scratching the back of his head and chuckling awkwardly while walking out of the room in a bit of a daze. Komamura made way for him to pass through the doorway and then strolled in the room.

"So...you must have heard what I said a moment ago, right? I honestly had no idea you were there until I picked up the slight change in scent in the room. You scared the hell out of me." she admitted with a soft laugh. He nodded slowly in confirmation and Siren dropped the kind smile she had on her face and replaced it with a melancholy expression. "I still don't want to face everyone...my division in particular."

He picked up the faint worry in her tone and knew that she needed some convincing. "I know how you are feeling. But everyone seems to have found a new respect for you. Since the Winter War, everyone has become a lot more open minded and accepting of your kind, since we know that without Shinji-san and the other vizards, there is no question that we would have been beaten. There's no need to worry." he said kindly, hoping that he could help convince her.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I'd just like to check Siren-san over before I let her out of here." Unohana's soft voice almost floated through the room, and Komamura excused himself after bidding them both goodbye.

For the next few minutes, Unohana gave Siren a quick check to make sure everything was in working order, and that she was alright to leave the care of the Fourth Division. She knew that it was probably assistance from Siren's hollow side that allowed her to recover so quickly, and she was glad that it had helped the new captain, who couldn't seem to hide the soft spot she had for her Lieutenant any longer. Everything seemed perfectly fine, so she told Siren that she would be okay to leave, but repeated her earlier words of making sure that she rest well.

After Unohana left, Siren changed back into her now clean and dry shinigami uniform and haori, - which she felt weirder wearing than ever - that had been left on a small table next to the bed. Deciding that now she was out of here, there was one place she had to go before she did anything else. She strolled through the Seireitei, shinigami from various divisions greeting her and bowing respectfully. She greeted them and smiled kindly, infinitely glad that Komamura's words had been proven true, but made sure that no one from her division saw her just yet. Everyone seemed to be calling her 'taicho' but she wasn't going to bother telling every single one of them not to. A few minutes later, the huge doors of the First Division barracks loomed overhead and Siren took a deep breath and prepared herself to accept whatever punishment or scolding she would receive. She knew that she definitely deserved it, especially after Shun telling her that half the Second Division and Onmitsukido had been ordered to go after her. She also decided that she would apologise to Soifon after this.

She walked, quite slowly through the barracks and made her way towards the old man's office. Sasakibe greeted her, and she returned it kindly, and he said nothing more, just smiling faintly, probably already knowing what she was doing there. She opened the large doors and walked to stand in front of the Captain-Commander's desk and bowed very low that she was almost at a ninety degree angle. She inhaled to speak but was stopped by the old man, who spoke first.

"Kyubantai taicho, Siren. I would like to commend you on your excellent work subduing the infiltrating hollow." Siren raised her head at the words with her eyes wide. "There were minimal injuries, and they were eliminated quickly and efficiently. You are dismissed."

Siren's eyes were still wide, and she bowed low again and thanked him before walking out of his office in an absolute daze with a ridiculous expression on her face that sent some questioning glances her way, having no idea how the hell that just happened. She shook her head as Komamura's words came to mind again, about how everyone had become more open-minded since the Winter War and she guessed that it also applied to the usually rule-abiding and immovably resolute So-taicho. She made her way to Soifon's office in the Second Division barracks, hoping that she would be there so she didn't have to go on a wild goose chase to find her.

Luckily, Siren found her in her office completing paper work after she had announced herself and been granted entry. She walked up to the desk of the dark-haired woman's desk and bowed, then apologised for her own issues causing her so much hassle. Soifon admitted that it was quite irritating, but then commended her with a small smirk on not losing much of the skill that she would have gained in the Onmitsukido and Second Division. Siren thanked her kindly, and apologised again before excusing herself. Just before she could walk out the door, Soifon called to her and asked her to tell her 'obnoxious, self-absorbed Lieutenant' to keep it down, and Siren said that it wouldn't be a problem, figuring that if Soifon had to do it, from the expression on her face she just might beat the man to a pulp.

Omaeda was standing just down the hall, talking to some of the Second Division members loudly and Siren walked up to the man and stared up at him coolly before saying to him that his taicho had asked him to keep it down. At the sight of the woman who's vibrant green eyes said 'I dare you to disobey me', he shut up immediately and walked down the hall, away from his captain's office, knowing that if Soifon was forced to come out because he was distracting her so much, it wouldn't end up pretty. And he definitely didn't feel like crossing the newly discovered vizard, Ninth Division captain, who faintly reminded him of his own captain with her ability to easily stare down someone twice their size.

Darkly delighted with being able to tell someone off for the first time, Siren smirked with faint sadistic amusement and made her way out of the Second Division barracks and leapt up on the rooftop of a random building to look for any sign of the Eighth Division taicho who she found several minutes later, casually snoozing on the roof of his office. As usual, he made no move to make it obvious that he was aware of her presence, and she just laid down next to him, and covered her eyes from the bright sun with her arm. They were silent for a few minutes, just relaxing comfortably in each other's presence. They never really needed to talk that much at times like these. Knowing the other person was there that was most important thing. Kyoraku finally decided what to say and he lifted up his hat to look at the girl lying next to him and spoke quietly in an uncharacteristically serious voice.

"You can't hide it from me. I know you are still upset."

"Of course I am. I still haven't faced my division. I've been making sure that none of them see me." she retorted sharply, with anger that wasn't directed at the older man.

"What did Yama-jii say?" he said knowingly, inwardly betting a bottle of sake that Siren had gone to see the So-taicho as soon as she got out of the Fourth Division.

"He... he commended me on doing a good job with the hollow. I didn't even get a chance to speak. I was expecting to get like...grounded or something." she answered with an utterly bewildered tone, reliving the unexpected turn of events that had been some sort of mind fuck for the green-eyed vizard.

Shunsui just chuckled faintly in reply, glad that the old man had decided to leave her be. It had taken a bit of convincing from him, and the Thirteenth Division captain, as well as the Seventh Division captain to give her a break. The old man had become a little more lenient since the Winter War had finished, and he seemed to feel a little bit of guilt because of what happened with the former captains and Lieutenants, now vizards, being victims of Aizen schemes. The fact that he actually allowed Siren to become a captain was proof of this.

"So...Hisagi-kun, huh?" he said suddenly, his voice back to its usual carefree self. Siren made a sound of questioning, not knowing what exactly he was getting at. "He was coming to see me and Ukitake every day, asking if you had been here, or whether we could think of anywhere that you might be. He seems to be rather fond of you, if you know what I mean." he stated, leaving a little to the imagination.

"No, I don't know what you mean." she said pointedly shook her head and spoke again before her old friend could, most likely to say something that she wouldn't really want to hear right now. "Anyway, I'm going. I bet I've got a shit load of paper work to do. See ya."

Gracefully, she hopped down from the rooftop, landed silently and made her way to Hisagi's office. She was careful to avoid any confrontation with her division members by climbing up the wall and going in through the window, which was thankfully open. He looked a little confused at her being there, and the first thought that came to mind was that she might have had enough of being in the Fourth Division and found a way to sneak out. This thought became invalid when she said that a little after he left Unohana cleared her to go.

Without replying, he just filtered briefly through a large stack of paper, and handed about half of it to her with a glint in his eyes that said 'Sucks to be you!'. She glared at him in reply and she strolled over to the other side of the office and set the paper work down on the table in between the two couches. She sat down on the couch, glaring at the large amount of paper work that she had to complete, knowing that by the end of it, she would have torn out most of her hair, and probably broken several items in the room, as well as putting some holes in the walls. She realised that she was supposed to be taking it easy, but she was full of energy and felt like doing something a little more active, so to speak.

She glanced over at Hisagi, writing away on the various reports and such when an idea came to her. A while ago, when she got to hang out with Renji, he told her all about what happened in Hueco Mundo. He told her about the Arrancar and former Espada, Nel, and her two Fraccion, Pesche and Dondochakka and how they played a game called 'Eternal Tag'. She chuckled under her breath and thought that it would be a fun game to play to pass the time and get away from work, and it would also be good for training. She would have to use that excuse to drag Hisagi away from all that paper work anyway. It would make the players concentrate on their speed, agility and evasive manoeuvres as well as stamina and endurance.

Nonchalantly, she stood up, put her hands in her pockets and walked over to Hisagi's desk and lent over it to get his attention. When he lifted his head to look at her, silently evaluating him, and told him to come with her. Confused, he got up and followed her outside of the barracks, not missing the way that she looked around for any signs of the members of her division. She flew up to land on the rooftop and Hisagi stopped to think for a moment about what the hell she was thinking before following her.

"We're going to do some training and play a game children play in the real world. The game is called 'Tag'. One person is 'it' and they have to run around and chase the other players and tag one of them so that they can become 'it'. As simple as it sounds, it will help you work on your speed, agility as well as stamina. I've also decided to change the rules up a bit to suit our skills. Shunpo is allowed...scratch that, necessary. Kido may be used as well, but only when there will be no damage to buildings and such. M'kay?" she said, holding up fingers as she went through the explanation.

He nodded in assent, but asked a question. "You do realise that you are going to win, right?"

"Wrong. I said we could use Kido, and I'll bet my month's salary that you are far better at it than me. And I will be holding back anyway. If I wasn't faster than you, it wouldn't be as much of a challenge, would it?" she asked rhetorically and leant forward before casually tapping him on the shoulder with one finger, then jumped back laughing at how easy he made it.

Quickly, he snapped to attention and realised what she did and laughed before chasing after her over the rooftops. Within the next five minutes, they had already covered all of the Ninth Division's area and were starting to branch out. Hisagi still hadn't caught her, and he decided to start using Kido to level the playing field.

"Bakudo no Ichi, Sai!" he said and pointed at the woman running backwards in front of him, laughing at him. Her eyes widen at the sight of him using a binding spell, and she flipped out of the way, and poked her tongue out. He shook his head, even though he was having a lot of fun 'training' and took off after her.

Their game – training - rapidly drew the attention of wandering shinigami, a few of which happened to be Kira, Renji and Matsumoto. All three of them jumped up on the rooftops to join them, and Siren stopped so she could explain what they were doing. Renji instantly knew where she got the idea from, but said nothing and they all decided that it would be a fun way to blow off some stream, but still be active and help them train at the same time. Hisagi was still 'it' and they all ran around, jumping and leaping across the Seireitei, having a good time doing something silly and fun, yet shockingly constructive at the same time. It would be even more interesting with more people, since the game would stretch so far that you wouldn't know who was in all the time, so it would be good for reaction times and quick planning as well.

They started again and Hisagi managed to get close enough to Siren to perform another Kido spell, and he used Bakudo no Kyu, Horin so that if he got her, he could pull her in close and tag her before dropping the Kido and bolting for his life. He cast the spell, minus the incantation and he grinned when he successfully caught her. Or so he thought.

"Way of the Onmitsu, 3rd of the Shihou. Utsusemi." he heard the words spoken from behind him, and he whirled around to see Siren, standing behind him, smiling victoriously. He looked back to find her haori on the ground where she was standing moments ago and she suddenly appeared next to it and picked it up before nonchalantly putting it back on. He watched as she 'dusted' off the shoulders and smirked at him as he shook his head. He recognised the 'Shihou' and guessed that it came from 'Shihoin', which would mean that Shihoin Yoruichi herself must have taught her that technique, which was certainly rather impressive.

At that moment, Renji appeared beside Siren, and Hisagi immediately went for him while he was a little confused at the sight of the black-haired Lieutenant and his black-haired captain staring each other down. Hisagi eventually caught him, and Renji began chasing after Matsumoto, and he chased after her a few minutes before catching up to her as he was easily faster. She started after Hisagi, but he got away from her, and she was able to sneak up on Kira. Siren decided to see what would happen if she just sat down in plain sight.

She flopped down on whatever building it was and waited for someone to notice her. She sensed Matsumoto stopping for a moment, but then she moved quickly away from Renji, who seemed to be chasing her. Kira and Hisagi had stopped, and they seemed to be rather close to each other. Renji seemed to catch Matsumoto as he started running away from her, and she went towards Kira and Hisagi. They both zipped away, Hisagi getting further than Kira and Hisagi seemed to only be about 200 metres away from her.

Finally, after Matsumoto had chased Kira and Hisagi literally right past Siren, she noticed the small haori-clad form of the Ninth Division taicho sitting down, looking at her with a casual expression. Taking it as a challenge, Matsumoto laughed and ran for her, and she stayed there before using the Utsusemi technique again. Siren was quite glad to finally have a chance to practice it since she only learnt it a short while ago and still wasn't too proficient with it, but enough to fool the other players for a few moments.

Matsumoto continued to chase after her, and Siren used her full speed for a moment to pick up her haori before waiting for Matsumoto to get a bit of a head start on her. When she was only just out of the blonde-haired fuku-taicho's reach, she dashed away after she went to tag her. She noticed that the other three seemed to have stopped to watch for a moment, meanwhile catching their breath and she decided to let Matsumoto catch her, so she could freak out her Lieutenant and enjoy laughing at him for the next few days.

The Tenth Division Lieutenant tagged Siren, who glanced in Hisagi's direction and winked devilishly before disappearing from sight, only to reappear a split second later in front of Hisagi and said 'Boo!' loudly, her face only a foot away from his. The man with the scars and tattoos yelped in fright and stumbled backwards a few steps and Siren continued to use her full speed to literally, run circles around him, laughing at her prank being successful. Renji, Kira and Matsumoto laughed at the sight of Hisagi getting freaked out and in a few moments, Siren had stopped running and was rolling on the rooftop, laughing hysterically as Hisagi stood a few metres away with his arms crossed and his face pulled into the deepest scowl he could manage, even though he was restraining his own laughter. Even he couldn't deny that she got him good.

Renji, Kira and Matsumoto walked over, all quite tired from playing the game, and they all sat down as Siren collected herself. Hisagi sat down as well, but mock-glared at his captain, who started laughing again. Matsumoto told Siren about their girly day tomorrow at the bath house, since she has to take it easy and Hisagi decided to try and get her back for her earlier prank.

"Not happening. My captain has too much work to do." he said, and looked off into the distance defiantly with his arms still crossed over his chest, feeling the icy glare of his captain. Siren suddenly got an idea, and she looked at Matsumoto and gave her 'the nod' that said she was about to do something and they both smirked knowingly as Renji and Kira watched on and glanced at each other in confusion.

She crawled to sit in front of Hisagi and put on the best puppy dog eyes she could do. After a moment, Hisagi looked at her out of the corner of his eye, and then turned his head to face her, and his eyes went wide at the sight of those big, vibrant green eyes looking up at him innocently, screaming silently for him to give in. A look that could make the strongest men cave. And his captain was clearly just as good at it as she was with shunpo. He groaned quietly and dropped in chin to his chest in defeat, knowing that he could  _never_  say no to that face.

Laughing softly, Siren turned back to look at Matsumoto, and they both raised their arms triumphantly and cheered in happiness. Renji and Kira both snickered at how easily Hisagi had caved, until Siren decided to let them have it. She shut her eyes, and turned to them both, who stopped laughing in confusion. When she opened them again, they both tensed visibly at the sight and dropped their chins to their chest in defeat, just like Hisagi had, now knowing  _exactly_  why he had given in so easily.

They chatted for a while, saying that they should play/train again soon, and eventually parted way as the sun began to go down. Renji headed back to the office, and Kira headed back to his while Matsumoto left to go prepare for the girl's day tomorrow and Hisagi and Siren wandered off to the Ninth Division Lieutenant's quarters. Siren tried not to laugh at him on the way there, but as Hisagi saw her straining not to, he began mock-scowling again and she couldn't hold it any longer and cracked up, getting some 'What the hell?' looks from the various shinigami walking past them.

Still laughing, Siren walked into his place and sat down at the small table in the middle of the room. After a few moments, she collected herself and noticed that Hisagi was nowhere to be seen. She looked around the room from where she was sitting, and saw no sign of him. It was completely silent, until there was the barely audible sound of a footstep behind her. Knowing it was Hisagi, sneaking up on her to get her back, her right arm snapped back to grab onto his right leg. She tilted her head all the way back to look at him, and shook her head before yanking his leg out from underneath him.

Arms and legs went flailing as he landed hard on his backside. Secretly vowing to never try sneaking up on a former member of the Onmitsukido, he got up on his knees and grabbed onto Siren's arms, that she was leaning back on, and pulled them out from under her and she fell back and he pinned her arms down. She didn't struggle, just smirked mischievously and swung her legs to show off a hell of a lot of flexibility and wrap them around his middle and flip them over so that she was on top of him in a rather compromising position. Since her back was facing away from him, she huffed with amusement and spoke over her shoulder in an uncharacteristic voice, dripping with innuendo and seductive undertones.

"Sorry, but I like being on top." Siren got up, and walked into his bathroom, leaving him still laying on the floor, a little more worked up about what just happened than he would like to admit. He heard the shower turn on, and shuddered slightly as mental images began to bounce around in his mind, and he walked into the small kitchen to cook them something to eat, and hopefully distract himself from temptation.

About ten minutes later, Siren emerged from the bathroom, clean and fresh with a towel wrapped around her, and strolled into Hisagi's room to find the clean pair of shinigami robes that she had decided to leave there.  _It's almost like we live together,_  she thought with amusement as she dressed and tied her obi, and forgoing her normal black fingerless gloves the same as her vizard friend, and former captain of her division, Muguruma Kensei.

Upon smelling whatever wonderful concoction her Lieutenant, who was a surprisingly good cook had thrown together, she inhaled deeply and traipsed on out to see what she would be eating tonight. She gazed upon a glorious sight of tonjiru and yakitori. Smiling happily, she helped serve up and bring everything over to the table. They sat down and ate in silence, and inwardly Siren thought about how much she missed some of these traditional foods, instead of everything coming in packets in the real world. She remembered explaining to Ikkaku and Yumichika why they put onigiri in packets on Renji's birthday night, which was quite amusing.

They ate quietly, making small talk throughout, and Siren occasionally teasing Hisagi about her scaring him, which earned her a glare, even though he couldn't really put much anger behind it. They hung out until later that evening, and they both got a little drowsy, thanks to the exertion from their game of tag and Siren curled up on Hisagi's couch, while he fell into a deep sleep on his bed.

#

Hisagi woke the next morning, rolled over sleepily and felt something quite unlike the pillow under his head. He lifted his head enough so that he could look down and saw a note. He picked it up to see what looked like Siren's handwriting on it.

_You've got the day off today.  
If I hear so much as a peep of you doing any sort of work, I will be thoroughly displeased.  
I've informed the division to not allow you in your office at all.  
Also, I took every piece of paper involving work out of your place and put it in your office, so don't even bother trying that one._

_So stay in bed, fuku-taicho._

_P.S. Meet me at our training hall at about 5pm. Judging from how easily I was able to pin you down last night, it seems that we have to work on your hakuda skills._

Laughing softly (and maybe flushing slightly at the memory of last night as well as the extra innuendo Siren had used), he shook his head and let go of the note so it fell on the floor and put his head back down. He knew that she was just trying to look out for him, and he really did need to catch up on rest but there was a fair bit of paper work that he hadn't completed, as well as there being a lot that she had to do. He knew that she would somehow get it all done, as she always did - shockingly enough - but he couldn't help but feel obligated to try and sneak into his office. Knowing her, she probably put some sort of barrier around it, just to make sure that he didn't try doing that, and probably had all the division keeping an eye out for him.

While he laid there, comfortable and warm, he thought about what had happened the last few days. He realised that he had stopped being pissed off with her about the Renji thing the moment that she got that terrified look in her eye when she saw that he was about to be hit by a Cero and deflected it. He had also been contemplating that he might have just been thinking too much after hearing from Kira that Renji apparently had a crush on a girl from the Fifth Division, and that he was trying to build up the courage to ask her out. Also, he did remember thinking that Siren never seemed like the flirting type because it would probably just bore her unless she had a legitimate interest in the person.

It had become increasingly obvious to him that he harboured some sort of feelings for his new captain and good friend. Whether it was just some sort of admiration for someone who had been through so much and came out the other end as an amazing person who was more self-sacrificing and considerate than you'd first think, or whether it was attraction to the black-haired, green-eyed girl with the creamy white skin that he had met on a night with his friend, he would just have to wait and find out...

_Elsewhere..._

"I think he likes you. That's why I dared him to kiss you on Renji's birthday night!" Matsumoto said knowingly as her and Siren enjoyed a nice bit of down time after the chaos of the last few days in the hot springs that the bath house had.

"Oh, bullshit. Aside him being my Lieutenant, we're just friends." Siren reasoned defiantly as they relaxed in the water.

"Yeah, you're just friends even though he looked like he wanted to take you into one of the rooms and ravish you." the blonde haired beauty said with a laugh, knowing that Siren would react rather amusingly to her comment.

Siren tensed up and flushed faintly. "Can it, you! I'm not interested in dating  _him_  or  _anyone_  for that matter. Too troublesome for my liking..." she trailed off, trying to reason with the Tenth Division fuku-taicho.

"By the way, who's Tenka? Renji told me something about it and he said that he wanted me to talk to you about it."

A vein popped in Siren's forehead at Renji telling Matsumoto the name of the only person she could say that she was quite sure she was in love with so many years ago. She knew that he probably only did it because she might feel less awkward talking about it with Matsumoto. A part of her had honestly hoped that he had completely forgotten the name she told him in her frustration to reason with him about  _not_  liking her Lieutenant. She sighed irritably before giving in and telling her about it.

"Well, back in the day when I was here and in the Onmitsukido, Tenka was my squad leader for missions. I can't believe that I'm actually going to say this, but I'm pretty sure that I was in love with him. Our squad hung out and we all got along really well, but I couldn't help but have feelings for him. One day, he and some of the other squad leaders got sent on this mission to dispatch of a huge hollow. The day of the mission, I woke up with this terribly ominous feeling, so I tried to convince him not to go." she crossed her arms and as she spoke, she relived the day that she don't think she could ever forget, no matter how many thousands of years she might end up living for. Matsumoto's blue eyes watched her expression for any signs that the girl that she had become good friends with might be still having trouble dealing with whatever happened between her and Tenka, even though it was so long ago.

"He told me that he had a bad feeling too, but he knew that he had to go and act out his orders. He told me that he loved me and that if he didn't come back, then not to cry for him since he wouldn't regret going, even though he would regret being forced to leave me. For three hours I waited for their report to come in, and it never did. Turns out that they'd all died but they did take out the hollow. I kept to my word and didn't cry or regret that he fulfilled his duty. Since then I've basically just turned off that side of my feelings all together." she spoke quietly, but not as sadly as would be expected with a story like that. It seemed that she really did have no regrets about it and had just accepted that it wasn't meant to be.

"So basically, you don't want to get close to Shuhei because you're afraid that he'll get be killed on the battle field and you want to save yourself the hurt of getting involved, then losing him." Matsumoto said firmly but softly, telling Siren that no matter how good the armour she protected herself with was, that some parts were transparent, and you could see straight through them. Her comment was confirmed when Siren looked at her with her mouth open and eyes wide in shock. Her gaze turned inward for a moment, and then she huffed in amusement, realising how easily she must have been to read just then.

She nodded her head and looked up at the sky pensively. "Pretty much, yeah."

As Siren smiled faintly, so did Matsumoto knowing that Siren had been able to hold her word, and even though she might miss Tenka, she was the type to keep her promises and it didn't seem like she regretted him passing on. Even though Siren seemed more like the type of person that would go against orders if her thoughts were completely opposite to them, she had a huge sense of honour and duty for someone that wasn't originally interested in becoming a captain, and Matsumoto guessed that she wouldn't allow herself to be upset when Tenka wanted to do his duty and follow orders even if it meant giving up his life.

She decided to not say anything more on the matter, and hope that Siren realised that it wasn't worth being so scared over if it means that you can have the person you love, even for just a little while. Unfortunately, she would never have the chance to be with Gin, no matter how much she loved him, and she just hoped that Siren would take the chance if it came along, all pessimistic thoughts aside.

After that small interlude of comfortable, pensive silence, they got out of the hot springs and went to do some basic shopping. The only things that Siren owned, were a few pieces of clothing, and a few toiletries and necessities. She didn't even own a brush. So they picked up a bunch of things for her, and she seemed happy to finally have some use for her wage other than buying sake, and groceries when Hisagi would actually let her buy some which was usually after a few minutes of arguing with him about it. Or just doing it without telling him.

It was the late afternoon when they parted ways, promising to do this again when they both could, and Siren made her way to Hisagi's, vowing to beat the hell out of him if he had somehow managed to do any sort of work. She dropped her things off, and noticed that he wasn't there but remembered that he was going to be at the training hall around now. She was using this as an opportunity to finally face some of her division, and hopefully to start some more training with Hisagi. She had heard about him being very proficient with hand-to-hand combat, and she just couldn't help but want to see how he went against her.

Within a few minutes, she was at the door of the training hall, and she mustered all the nonchalance she could and opened the door and wandered in. No one noticed her for a moment, but Hisagi had been looking between the sparring shinigami in front of him to the door since he got there. He hoped that his captain was a lot more relaxed and a little less depressed after having a day out with Rangiku-san, and when he noticed her nonchalant expression, he felt quite relieved knowing that she was actually able to look that way instead of the usually pensive and melancholy way she had recently.

Deciding to have a little fun, Siren used a quick blast of shunpo to appear behind her raven-haired Lieutenant and put her right arm around his neck and place him in a gentle, but firm headlock. He tensed so slightly that she only knew because she was holding onto him, and he chuckled and shook his head in amusement. She let him out of the headlock and let both her arms dangle over his shoulders while she rested her chin on the top of his head and watched the two shinigami from her division spar and Hisagi couldn't hide the smile from his face at Siren's physical contact.

One of them left himself wide open after performing a kick incorrectly and only just blocked a blow in the nick of time thanks to the other guy not being agile enough and Hisagi was about to go get up and help when she muttered for him not to and pushed him back down to sit with her small hands on his broad shoulders. She walked over towards the two shinigami and people started to notice her and whisper 'taicho' in shock of actually seeing the woman who had disappeared after revealing her true self to them.

The two shinigami still hadn't noticed her, and she kept walking and casually grabbed one of the first shinigami's right leg which was swinging horizontally, and caught a punch that the second one was throwing without even budging. Eyes went wide, and she let both of the limbs go and she politely asked if she could help out a little, her usual bit of shyness returning before they both nodded wordlessly, and she just went into a professional mode and began pointing out the flaws in what they were doing.

Everyone in the room was watching silently, and they all were listening to the tips she was giving, just in case it was something they didn't already know. When she displayed how to correctly and efficiently use the kick the second was attempting to do earlier very slowly, they all paid extremely close attention and analysed her movements. She asked one of them to try out the block she taught them, and looking slightly hesitant he took up a stance, and prepared himself.

She did it slowly the first time, and he seemed to get it, and she continued to do it faster and faster and with more strength. He got the hang of it, and she warned that this time she would do it much faster and put more strength behind it, and see how he went. He nodded and she swung her leg out, only to have him barely block it, and go stumbling a few paces to the left after being slightly overwhelmed by the strength she used. She gasped quietly, not meaning to do that much and apologised awkwardly while scratching the back of her head before telling the two to continue for a few minutes and keep what she said in mind.

For the next few minutes, everyone watched as the two shinigami became better in using that particular kick and blocking technique after just a few minutes of tutoring. Siren watched on a few paces back analysing their every movement to watch for something that they may have done incorrectly, or to look for something she could help them improve on. They stopped after a few minutes, slightly puffed and they went to sit down to rest. Siren's gaze landed on Hisagi, and she tilted her head to gesture for him to get up and take her on, which was what they were there for.

The moment he stood up and moved away from the others that were sitting down and watching, she flickered out of sight and reappeared with her leg swinging in the exact same way that she had just taught the other two to do. He realised what she was doing, and he used the block she had taught them, executed perfectly. She smirked, pleased with how well he picked up on it, since it was something that she came up with herself and hadn't seen anyone using it while she was here.

They stared each other down, both looking slightly amused and Siren crossed her arms and tilted her head back a little before saying 'Come'. Then it began. They darted around, kicking, punching, blocking and flipping. They were quite well matched, even though Siren was clearly better in executing her moves and thinking quickly. Hisagi was able to hold his ground because he was a bit taller and could put more weight behind his movements, which helped him compete with the immense physical strength that the small vizard female had.

Siren was thoroughly impressed with Hisagi's abilities. He could analyse and even predict a few of her movements, and after a while, began to use more offensive moves that she had only used a few moments before. Realising that he was being a smart ass and imitating her, even though he was taking the fight itself quite seriously, she started laughing at him actually being talented enough to do so. She purposely left herself open slightly to see what he would do, and he reacted exactly how he should and eventually got her pinned down on her back, and he looked down at her with a look that said he wasn't really expecting that, but damn I'm proud of himself.

As she began to laugh again, everyone looked on in confusion, and it took Hisagi and everyone else a minute to realise that she had already gotten into position to regain control, but was too busy laughing to actually follow through. She had her left leg wrapped around his right one and she stopped laughing abruptly to throw him off, and flipped them over so she had him pinned with her hovering over him, her small hand on his throat with a soft grip that could turn to iron any moment. Instantly, she started laughing again, and even as her body shook with the laughter, her grip never slackened.

She rested her head on the ground next to his head, and stopped laughing for a moment before whispering to him. "Have you already forgotten what I told you last night,  _Hisagi-kun_?"

He tensed at the sound and feeling of her whispering in his ear, and noticing that she accentuated the usage of the honorific. She started laughing again and let him go and rolled off him to sit down and lean back on her hands and continue chuckling quietly while she caught her breath. He just sat up and leant back on his hands while trying to forget what she just did. Siren eventually got up and stood in front of him with a hand held out to help him up.

Shaking his head and smiling, he knocked it aside defiantly and stood up before they made their way out of the training hall and back to his place where they ate and talked about their day for a while before heading off to bed for a good rest.


	5. Nostalgia

**Chapter 5 – Nostalgia**

_It was a beautiful day and Ukitake and Kyoraku were taking a pleasant stroll through Rukongai. Ukitake hadn't been feeling well last week, and now that he was much better, they were able to take their weekly relaxing walk through the various districts. The breeze was cool and the sun was warm and it couldn't have been a nicer day. Making small talk, they walked past the various green trees and past the children, running around and playing in the grass. Most of them waved happily at the two men, recognising them and some of them occasionally came up and hugged them before running off back to play with their friends._

_After they had been walking a while, Kyoraku suddenly heard the faint sound of singing coming from somewhere nearby. They both decided to check it out, and followed the sound to find a small, black-haired girl sitting on the ground by herself. She immediately went silent and flushed slightly on sight of them and her eyes were greener than the grass she sat on. Cautiously, so as to not alarm her, the white-haired man walked over to her and bent down on one knee. He gave her a kind smile and she relaxed slightly at seeing the genuineness the man showed in just that simple gesture._

_Ukitake opened his mouth to speak to the girl, but before he could do so, her stomach grumbled loudly. She turned her head away and blushed faintly again in embarrassment and his smile widened._

" _Are you hungry?" he remembered seeing a small food stand a small walk back the way they came, and decided to shout the girl something to eat. "Why don't you come with us? There's a place just back that way where we can get you something to eat." he asked kindly, not wanting to leave the girl alone without at least filling her stomach._

_The girl's bright green eyes darted between them for a few moments with hesitation, but after they both smiled happily at her, she nodded awkwardly, and Ukitake held out a hand to help her up. Gently, she took it and stood up before brushing any grass off her backside and followed the kind men to the food stall. They bought her some onigiri and kindly told her not to eat too fast or she'll feel sick. She smiled faintly and restrained herself from munching down the food in one gulp. It was the first meal she had eaten in two days._

_As soon as she finished, she instantly felt better, and a small surge of reiatsu was felt by the two captains sitting with her. They glanced at the girl, then at each other after feeling it. It sent a minor tingling sensation through their bodies and they almost spoke through their eyes, both agreeing that maybe this girl might have some potential as a shinigami. She was still only very young, but they had been around long enough to know when someone may have some hidden power._

_A few minutes after she finished eating they walked around with her, asking her various questions about herself and such other things to which she replied in a shy, quiet voice sounding very much unlike the powerful and much more confident one they had heard singing earlier. They found out her name, but Kyoraku had insisted on calling her 'Siren-chan' explaining that he thought of it because there was a part of history from the real world about beautiful women who sung like angels. She wasn't exactly a woman yet, a young girl more or less, but he still thought that it was appropriate. It seemed that she didn't like her name much either, so Ukitake began referring to her as Siren as well._

_It began to get dark, and they bid her goodbye, but told her that they would back around the same time next week. By that time, she was much more open with them and most of the original shyness had completely worn off. She ran off in the opposite direction, and they both strolled back into the Seireitei, hoping that they would see the green-eyed girl again._

_The next week, it seemed like she was waiting for them in the exact same spot as when they first met her. She grinned happily and ran to them, hugging them both. She told them about their nicknames that she had come up with since they had come up with one for her. Captain of the Thirteenth Division, Ukitake Jushiro was now just 'Shiro', and Captain of the Eighth Division Kyoraku Shunsui was now known as 'Shun'. She laughingly told them that together she could call them 'ShiroShun' or 'ShunShiro' and the two men chuckled at the girl's new nicknames for them. Again, they walked around and they also told her about them being captain-class shinigami._

_They told her about the cool spells (Kido) and defeating the bad guys (hollows) with their special swords that were like their best friends (Zanpakuto) and she instantly starting jumping around, swinging around a stick, pretending to 'defeat the bad guys'. As the weeks progressed, during their visits they began to tell her about what it meant to be a shinigami and she seemed quite intent on becoming one. Soon enough, she was forming balls of reiryoku and showed them happily before tripping over and accidentally putting a small hole in the ground from the ball she had proudly formed in front of them after practising for several hours._

_When she came of age, she entered the shinigami academy, passing the first time and was quickly praised as a genius. Her Kido was average and she was able to control the techniques well, but it was her swordsmanship, agility and speed that shocked everyone. She was able to take on someone twice her size and defeat them with natural strength, technical skill and an ability to analyse her opponent's movements. She graduated within two and a half years and it didn't take long for her to be snapped up by the Thirteenth Division, thanks to Ukitake requesting her, beating the Eight Division to the punch._

_She eventually gained shikai and became an incredibly capable shinigami for someone who wasn't interested in a seated position. Even though she loved being a shinigami and loved working under her close friend and surrogate father, she just didn't feel quite right in the Thirteenth Division. After a while, her abilities were noticed by the Onmitsukido and she was asked to join them. She accepted and ended up being a part of the Second Division as well. She rose up the ranks quickly, mastering shunpo and hakuda and gaining a reputation as one of the most promising shinigami of her generation._

_For a long time, she didn't bother accepting any roles to rise up the ranks, as something like that had never bothered her before, but after a mission gone wrong, the Seventh Seat was killed and it didn't take her long to be almost begged to replace them._

_On that day, she met_ him.

_Well, she met him, properly..._

#

_Siren, the newly appointed Seventh Seat of the Second Division was strolling down the hall way of the barracks when a good-looking man ran up to her all of a sudden._

_"Hey, are you the new Seventh Seat?" he said in a strangely familiar voice, sounding slightly out of breath._

_"Um, yeah..." she confirmed, slightly confused at the current happenings._

_"I'm Shukumei Tenka. Just call me Tenka though, I was never one for formalities. I'm the Sixth Seat." the man named Tenka spoke as he bowed slightly to the girl in front of him._

_"I'm Siren." he raised an eyebrow at this, wondering why she didn't give another name. Also, the name sounded familiar. "Just Siren." she replied to his unanswered question and bowed her head a little in respect._

_"Wait, you're Siren, Siren?" It was her turn to raise an eyebrow at this question. "From the Onmitsukido's Keigun?"_

_She ran her hand through her longer, but still messy black hair and scratched the back of her head whilst nodding. "Yeah, that'd be me."_

_"Oh, really? Well, we've actually been working together for a while now. I was made your group leader two weeks ago."_

_"Ah, that makes sense. You seemed familiar. With our get-up that covers pretty much everything except our eyes, it makes it difficult to recognise someone without it on." she replied, finally piecing together how she knew him._

_"That's true. Um...I'm just heading to the training hall. Did you...want to come with me?" he asked, feeling slightly awkward. He had a crush on the girl in his new group ever since he met her, and he couldn't help but want to get to know her better, especially now that he'd seen her without their usual uniform._

_"Yeah, sure. I'll see how I go against the Sixth Seat and my group leader." she said with a smirk and they headed to the training hall._

_When they got there, there was barely anyone around. Just a few people who looked like they were slacking off. Siren and Tenka strolled in and without warning Tenka threw his leg out to try and kick Siren, who nonchalantly blocked it and raised an eyebrow, even though there was a small smirk on her face. He huffed in amusement, impressed with her reaction, and then it began. The next few minutes were filled with infinite kicks, blocks, punches, strikes, dodges as they darted around the room, countering every attack that the other had. They were evenly matched. Siren was more agile and quick, but Tenka had more strength and experience than she did. After a while, they called it a draw._

_Within several months, they had both become good friends and made a great team. Tenka had moved up to Fifth Seat and Siren, being the uninterested person she was, hadn't bothered accepting her promotion to Sixth Seat no matter how much Tenka annoyed her about accepting it since he thought she was probably going to be a Gundancho in the Onmitsukido and maybe a Gotei Thirteen taicho one day._

_What they didn't know, is that both of them really liked each other, but were just too dense and insecure to realise it. They hung out outside of missions, trained together every other day and got along famously._

_Soon enough, years had passed, and that day came..._

#

" _Tenka! Tenka!" Siren called out as she ran down the hallway, trying desperately to find the Fifth Seat, whom was supposed to be sent on a mission to eliminate a hollow along with some of the other group leaders in the Keigun. She eventually found him in his quarters, making something to eat. "Tenka, you can't go. I have a terrible feeling about all this." she said, catching her breath in the doorway._

" _Siren...I've got a bad feeling too, but I want to do my duty as a member of the Onmitsukido." he shut the door and used two fingers to lift up the girl's chin, but shushed her before she could start to protest. "I'm sorry, I know you don't want me to go, and I don't want to go either...but I want to fulfil the responsibilities of my job, even at the cost of my life. If somehow you got sent after me and died because I didn't do my job, it would kill me."_

_He pulled the smaller girl into a firm embrace and pressed a light kiss to her hair before saying what he had been going over in his head all morning. "Siren...I care about you so much...I-I love you...and the only thing I'm going to regret doing is being forced to leave you behind." With those words, Siren's green eyes stung with tears and she began to sob quietly. "Please don't cry. I don't want you to regret me doing my duty since I know that I won't."_

_After a moment, she collected herself, scoffing internally and realising how unlike a member of the Second Division and Onmitsukido that little emotional display was. She was supposed to be ruthless and cold-blooded. Well, apparently not._

_An hour later, her and Tenka were curled up on his bed, definitely not expecting_ that  _to happen today. He had wanted to make it special, if he ever got the chance, but this was his only chance. It was their last chance to be together and they took it, knowing that there was a good chance he wasn't coming back from this mission._

_Half an hour later, Tenka left with a chaste kiss that didn't last long enough for Siren's liking and an apology for leaving her like this._

_Three hour and a half hours after that, Siren had found out the news that everyone sent had been killed even though they did manage to get rid of the hollow and had been having an emotional break for the past twenty minutes or so out in the mountains of Rukongai, where she always went to be on her own. Allowing herself just that small amount of emotional release would be enough for her. True to her word, she didn't cry, but just sat there contemplating what may have happened between them._

_It was then, that she decided to shut off that part of herself so she never had to endure losing someone that she had gotten close to as a friend and a lover..._

#

"Oi, Siren...Siren... _SIREN_!" Renji yelled at he stared down at the woman who was fast asleep with her head resting on her arms that were crossed on her desk.

"I will  _KILL_  you, Renji." Siren growled low and dangerously, annoyed at being woken up. Why did it always seem to happen when she was having such a refreshing sleep?

"Yeah, whatever. Anyway, I've got some free time. Let's go spar for a while before you leave." he said, not fazed by her threat, even though he knew he was probably going to pay for it when they sparred, but that was kind of what he wanted.

"You want to spar with me...after you woke me up? Your funeral." she spoke apathetically as she sleepily pushed herself up off the seat and walked towards the door of her office. Renji followed after her and led the way to the outside training area that Renji quite oftenly used since his bankai was just too big to be used inside. He still didn't know what Siren's bankai was, and that's why he asked her to spar, so he could see how he went up against a vizard, who was also an elite captain-class fighter.

It had been a month since she had been released from the Fourth Division, and he still hadn't gotten a chance to see how talented the new captain, and his good friend was. He had watched her sparring against Hisagi in hakuda many times, but she didn't seem to like using her zanpakuto while sparring or training while other people were around.

Still half-asleep, Siren stood at the opposite end of the training area. She was still dead tired from being woken up so quickly after she'd fallen asleep, and she wanted this over as soon as possible. Casually, she glared at Renji while removing her reiatsu sealing bracelet, concealed it in her shihakusho and drew her zanpakuto. She balanced the hilt on her right hand so the blade was pointing to the sky.

"Bankai..." she said lazily, and sighed faintly.

Renji's eyes went wide as he saw her mouth moving to the familiar phrase and he instantly released Zabimaru into bankai as well, not knowing what to expect, but knowing that if Siren was using her bankai straight away, then he was probably in for a very short fight. He watched as storm clouds rapidly began to appear in the sky, and Siren's katana transformed into the huge scythe. The next moment, large rods, identical to Siren's scythe (minus the blade, of course) were literally struck into the ground by lightning in a large circle around their battlefield and electricity buzzed between them, as Siren stood there inattentively, having seen this all before. He couldn't hear her say the name of her bankai, but he did know that her shikai was Raikou Arashi, so it was probably something along those lines.

Siren's reiatsu felt like it was crushing him and it didn't seem like she was bothering about compressing it a little for the sake of having a little discretion. From how much she was releasing, the whole of Seireitei and probably some of the Rukongai would be able to feel it. It felt quite a lot like Ichigo's, but it felt more 'static' than his. It was like waves of electricity going through the air, and the rumbles of thunder and flashes of lightning that appeared every now and then in the clouds.

Before she could attack him, he whipped Hihio Zabimaru towards her, and she used shunpo to move out of the way lazily, only getting far enough away to be just out of range of his move. Suddenly gaining a slight interest in fighting with Renji, not expecting him to be able to use his bankai so well for a fuku-taicho, she ran a hand through her hair and twirled the large scythe in her right hand until it was just a blur. The Sixth Division fuku-taicho felt the air change and the thunder rumbled heavier, and the lightning flashed more frequently as she released more and more power.

Within moments, people were crowding around them, but making sure to keep their distance since they were seeing the new captain's bankai for the first time. They were all able to notice the slightly hollow feel to her reiatsu and most of them had to stay on their knees because of the extreme force of her radiating power, unless they had already passed out like some of the unseated members of various divisions that had been caught unawares by the sparring session.

Renji swung his zanpakuto again, and she used the same thing she had before and only just moved out of his range using shunpo at the last moment. She stopped twirling her zanpakuto abruptly and flickered out of sight. For the next few moments, there was no sign of her until she appeared just in front of her red-haired opponent and only using one hand, swung the scythe towards him, close enough so that if she made contact, the staff section of the huge weapon would hit him, instead of the blade. He barely dodged the swing and literally bent over backwards to get out of the way.

Siren rolled her eyes at his stupidity, knowing that if he didn't move fast enough she might have accidentally lopped his head off, which was the whole point of being so close to him. Before he could make another move, she flickered back to her original position and decided to not bother using her zanpakuto unless she accidentally killed him. Her bankai wasn't suitable for training or sparring against other people. She suddenly felt a fluctuation in Hisagi's reiatsu nearby, and looked over to the rooftop of a building to see him standing there, a little shocked. Deciding to give him, and everyone else, a bit of a show, she breathed deeply and casually lifted up her left hand with it straightened out and pointing upwards.

Eyes widened, and they all wondered what she was going to do. When she swung her arm downwards like an axe, a huge bolt of lightning struck the ground just next to Renji's feet. Everyone jumped in fright, including Renji and Hisagi and she was glad that she had displayed her ability, as well as her unsuitability for being a training partner whilst using bankai, she decided to end the fun. Shrugging her shoulders at Renji's horrified look, knowing just how close he came to being struck by that lightning, she lifted her left hand back up and it looked like she was about to claw her face off.

Unfortunately, the two Lieutenants watching her knew  _exactly_  what she was doing and Renji just decided to stand there while she embarrassed him, knowing that if he didn't she might kill him. Even a defensive move might get him injured. Dark green energy flowed out of her, and when her hand was out of the way, Renji and Hisagi could finally see her mask.

It was shaped kind of like Ichigo's but the eye holes were much larger and were more curved, almost more feminine in a way. It had the typical hollow teeth for the mouth, and the bottom came to a point. On each side at the top, there were three small spikes varying in size from biggest on the outside and smallest on the inside. There was three lines on it from the top of each eye hole to each spike and there was three coming from the bottom of the eye holes and ran to the edges of the mask.

He could see her yellow eyes shining through the holes in stark contrast to the black sclera, but his attention was drawn away from them when again her right arm lifted and she pointed her scythe at Renji. A dark green ball of reiryoku began to form at the end of the weapon and everyone knew instantly that it was a Cero. Making sure to tone it down as much as possible, she waited until Renji had just started to use Hihio Zabimaru to curl around him like a shield before she let it off.

There was very little damage since she was really holding back, and the crimson-haired man unravelled his massive zanpakuto and prepared for a counter attack. But before he could realise it, let alone even sense that she had moved, the large blade of the scythe was just under his chin, being held by the masked woman who had appeared just beside him. She muttered something to the effect of 'Too slow' in her shaky voice and she used her free hand to remove her mask. After a moment, she sighed and moved her zanpakuto out of the way, and ran her gloved hand through her hair again before she sealed and sheathed the katana that was a huge scythe only moments ago.

The large lightning rods disintegrated and the storm clouds began to roll away to reveal the blue sky again they were concealing and Siren noted that by the looks of where the sun was in the sky, it was just about time for her to leave. She had planned a quick trip to the real world to visit some old friends. Quickly she said goodbye to Renji and Hisagi, who were both still a little shocked by what they had just seen and just both murmured their goodbyes and Renji sealed his zanpakuto in a bit of a daze.

Half an hour later, she was in the real world and making her way to the Urahara Shoten. She had asked the former Twelfth Division taicho / former President of the Research and Development Institute to gather everyone there so she could say hi and see how they were all doing. The former Second Division Captain / Former Onmitskido Leader would be there as well. When she got there after a few minutes, she could already hear the chorus of voices coming from inside including Orihime and Urahara's chipper tones, Ichigo and Rukia's angry ones, sounding like they were most likely arguing about something, and Ishida's cool and calm one telling Ichigo to shut it, and the normal lack of Sado's deep voice.

As she was just about to open the door, Urahara's voice stopped her and he got everyone's attention and spoke. "Everyone, may I present to you the new Ninth Division taicho!" he said loud enough for Siren to hear, and she just shook her head and rolled her eyes at his comment and opened the door.

"Siren-san!?" they all said in unison (Ichigo being the only one to not use the honorific). Yoruichi was the only one without a shocke expression aside from Urahara.

"Yo." she greeted simply, and walked in and sat down with them all in the small living space.

"You're the new Ninth Division captain?! I was notified about it, but Ukitake-taicho didn't tell me who it was." Rukia trailed off, guessing that the man wanted to surprise her when she found out off Siren herself.

For the next few minutes, they all asked her various questions about the job, what she had to do, still all shocked that their vizard friend was allowed to become a captain. Orihime asked her something about if Hisagi had gone to the pet shop and bought the present he wanted for Komamura, to which Siren just stared blankly , shaking her head at the red-head for a few moments before she remembered something.

"Hey, Ishida, I need a favour." she took off her haori and threw it at him. "Would ya be so kind and get rid of the sleeves for me?"

The bespectacled teenager fumbled and inspected the item of clothing for a few moments before bringing out a small sewing kit from who knows where, earning a smart ass comment from Ichigo, and it only took the next few minutes, which was full of catching up, laughing and joking around for him to fix it. He handed it back to her, and she thanked him as she stood up and put it on. The dark-haired Quincy seemed quite enthralled with the fabric that used to be her sleeves, and she told him he could keep it as thanks.

Mumbling something about 'high quality' and 'thread count' he sat the sleeves on his lap and looked up to see his handiwork and smiled faintly when Siren thanked him again. She bid her goodbyes to everyone after staying for some tea and more conversation. She left the shop, shutting the door behind her and walked in the direction of the place she had stayed in for several years when she first left Soul Society. When she got to the destination, she reached out and touched the orange barrier covering the place, she released a tiny amount of reiatsu (as much as she could with the bracelet on) and she began to slip right through it.

Inside the building, a pink-haired man looked towards their door with a confused expression to see a small girl with black hair walking down the stairs. She nodded at him with a happy smile on her face, and he knew that she looked very familiar, but couldn't put his finger on who it was. The six other people in the huge place realised that there was someone there and they all looked to see the familiar looking girl walking down the stairs.

"Siren?" a grey-haired man with the toned muscles spoke and took a few steps towards the girl who was now at the bottom of the stairs, trying to confirm his thoughts on who it was.

She nodded her head at him and replied. "Sure is. It's been a while guys."

They all recognised her as she came closer to them and they all said their hello's to the girl they hadn't laid eyes on in many years. Predictably enough, the man with the jaw-length straight blonde hair ran up to her and held his arms out to hug her, yelling her name and something about her being his 'first love' before a sandal came flying towards her out of nowhere and Siren caught it to smack him across the face with it. A small blonde girl with pigtails walked over and took the sandal from Siren as they 'tagged' each other with evil smirks and she took to smacking the blonde man across the face with the sandal from the other side.

"Dickhead Shinji! That's not how you greet the woman we haven't seen in so long!" the fiery blonde girl yelled as Shinji held a hand over his face and whimpered in pain.

"Shut it Hiyori!" he yelled back, but started whimpering again, realising that it was too early to start yelling without it seriously hurting.

The two of them argued for a few minutes meanwhile the man with the spiked afro and sunglasses named Love, and the man with the long wavy blonde hair, Rose, came over and greeted her, as well as the bespectacled black haired girl, Lisa, the girl with the bubbly personality and green hair, Mashiro and the rotund pink-haired man referred to as Hachi came over and talked to her but they were interrupted by a louder voice belonging to the grey-haired vizard that had recognised her first.

"So... _Siren._ What's with the haori?! You a captain or something?" he said sharply, but playfully, loud enough for the girl a few metres away to hear him, and she smirked faintly before replying.

"You're damn right I am,  _Kensei_. Wanna know what division!?" she retorted, playing along with his game, and turned around to show the number written on her haori to them all. His eyes widened at the sight of his old division's number on the back of her haori, and he smiled happily, glad that she was the one to get the position.

Shinji and Hiyori immediately stopped arguing at the sound of the announcement and came over and they all bombarded Siren with questions, much like what had happened at the Urahara Shoten. After things slowed down, they all sat down and she told them exactly what had happened since she left. They already knew about there being a new captain, but they didn't know what division or who it was but Kensei realised as soon as he laid eyes on the haori that she was the new captain. She reminded him of himself more than ever now.

For the next half hour, she caught up with them all, glad to see that they were all doing okay. After a while, she bid them goodbye, laughingly saying that Soul Society is lost without her, and promising to come and see them all again soon. Kensei walked with her upstairs and everyone left them be, knowing that they had always been quite close friends, even though they all knew that Kensei had always had a little crush on her, even though he'd probably die before admitting it. Well, everyone  _except_ Siren knew about it.

"Oi. I'm glad that you're the new captain. I always said that if they ever allowed vizards in Soul Society, that you'd become one." he said, as the leaned against the door frame.

"Thanks. Yeah, I know. But I honestly didn't think that it would ever happen. Oh by the way, you remember Hisagi Shuhei?" she asked, accompanying him in leaning against the door frame.

"The kid?" the former Ninth Division taicho said, remembering the young boy he had saved from the clutches of a huge hollow all those years ago.

"Yep... He's my Lieutenant."

"Really? I knew that he was a Lieutenant from the Winter War. Should've known that he would have gone for the Ninth Division. Seems like he's pretty strong."

"He certainly is. Especially with me training him." she laughed, and he huffed in amusement at her confidence, even though it was undoubtedly true. "Alright, I better go. I was totally serious before, they've got nothing without me." she pushed off the door frame and stood up properly.

Kensei smiled again, noticing that she seemed pretty happy with the strange turn of events. They hugged each other and said their goodbyes, and Kensei reminded her to come back and visit soon. She waved over her shoulder and went through the orange barrier, then opened up the senkaimon and went through the Dangai for the second time that day.

#

The voice of the person sitting in the large white room with the immensely high-ceilings echoed as they spoke to the two people kneeling in front of them.

"Aizen-sama would be pleased with how much our strength has increased. We shall evaluate their strength very soon..."

#

_The night was cold. They were standing there. Time seemed to still as they looked straight into each other's souls. He called her name softly, and his voice resonated through her body. He walked over to her, and pulled her into a warm and protecting embrace. She didn't return it. He pulled back, wondering why and then he felt cold steel run him through. He looked at her face to see her hollow mask covering it. Her sclera was black, and irises yellow. "W-Why?" he choked out, and she pulled the katana out of him, and watched on, void of emotion as he fell to the ground, covered in blood._

Siren woke violently and sat up, to see Hisagi standing over her with a worried expression. "Are you okay? I've been trying to wake you for like -"

His words were cut off when she gasped and threw her arms around him, her body shaking with fear as she almost fell off the couch. He knelt down and stroked her hair gently as her erratic breathing gradually slowed and evened out. After a few minutes, she had calmed down a little and he pulled back and brushed the hair off her face that was covered with a thin film of sweat.

"Hey... What happened?" he asked softly as he could, not wanting to upset her.

"I dreamt...I dreamt that I ki-killed you. Well, my hollow side did." she choked out with her gaze still inward, the images she had seen in her sleep rushing through her mind taunting her endlessly.

He hugged her again, and cooed to her softly, telling her that it was only a dream. She still seemed pretty shaken up, so he picked her up and brought her to his room as she continued to tremble faintly. He laid her down on his bed, and sat down next to her. For about twenty minutes, he calmed her down, stroking her cheek and hair, until she eventually closed her eyes and fell back to sleep. Hoping that she wouldn't beat him up for this tomorrow, thinking that he took advantage of her emotional weakness or something, he laid down next to her and placed a protective arm over her waist and pressed his nose to his hair, and eventually let himself be lulled to sleep by her scent of vanilla and sake.

They both woke the next morning to the sound of their Sixth Seat knocking at Hisagi's door. He got up and went to answer the door as Siren sat up on his bed, wondering why the hell she was there and contemplating how much she had to drink the previous night. After a moment Hisagi came back in with a pile of paper work in hand and an unhappy expression. They had just completed a huge pile yesterday, so he was hoping to not do so much work today. Especially after seeing his captain and good friend being more shaken up than he had ever seen before.

She usually never seemed phased by anything to do with that side of her, or she was just very good at hiding it. After being this way for so long, it wouldn't be surprising if she could cover it up so well. He looked at the girl's face, which was contorted slightly with confusion, but then her eyes widened dramatically and she looked over at him with shock and fear. Guessing that she had remembered what happened last night, he walked over to her and sat down next to her on the bed.

"How are you feeling?" he asked softly, watching observantly as she looked back down at the floor. She shrugged and mumbled an incoherent reply and he watched as the signs of acceptance and nonchalance appeared on her face, and gathered that she was alright.

She shrugged. "That's never happened before. In fact, I haven't been bothered by Utsuro for weeks now."

"I figured. You've been in too good a mood for that to happen." he said with a small smile.

"That's because I've been able to buy so much sake that I probably haven't been sober in like...a month." she admitted, laughing at Hisagi shaking his head. "Don't shake your head at me. You had some of it!" she demanded and poke his chest firmly with her finger.

After bickering playfully for a few more minutes, Siren got up and they both got ready for another long, monotonous day of work. Three hours after that, they had completed the huge stack of paper work and Siren was ready to crack open a bottle of sake, much to Hisagi's chagrin. He had no idea how she did any work, let alone stayed alive and rather healthy when she drank that much. He had the suspicion that it was all to keep her hollow side quiet.

He was on his way back from dropping off a report to the Sixth Division, when he heard a distinctively female voice yelling his name from behind him, and before he could turn around and look to find out who it was he felt impact _._  The woman jumped on his back and threw her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. The smell of sake hit his nostrils and he knew that Siren must have had a fair bit while he was gone.

"Ya wanna come back and have a drink with me,  _Shuhei?_ " she whispered in his ear, and he tensed up at hearing his first name come off her lips so god damn seductively. He could feel her soft curves pressing against his shoulders and her warm breath fanning over his neck and it took everything he had not to march back to his place right now and have her on every surface in there. Several times over.

She seemed to notice his awkwardness and started drawing small patterns with her fingernail lightly on his chest, just to make it a little worse. No one was around to see what was happening, but he couldn't help but feel like he was being watched. He somehow managed to speak her name, in a slightly urgent and forced voice, and she dropped down back onto her own feet.

"Come on, we're taking the rest of the day off and going to The House." she said over her shoulder as she walked back the way she came, and his eyes dropped to watch her hips sway from left to right as she walked further and further away from him. He broke out of his reverie as she turned around abruptly and hurried him, and he followed her without a word, knowing that she wouldn't listen anyway.

As they walked through the Seireitei and through Rukongai, Hisagi thought about how the random instances such as the one before had been happening with increasing frequency over the past month. He had actually caught her checking him out when he had just walked out of the shower, with nothing but a towel around his waist, not realising that she was there.

Okay, maybe he  _might_  have heard the door open, and just decided to see what she'd do if he just walked around half naked.

The fuku-taicho had also had his fair share of perving on her as well. Especially when they sparred and she had that outfit that didn't cover her pale shoulders and half of her back, and they usually ended up in some sort of compromising position which sent his mind reeling with mental images of it being even more compromising. He couldn't deny to himself any longer that he was definitely into her. It was getting harder and harder for him to cover it up, even more so when it was almost like she knew and was just having so much fun egging him on. Either that, or maybe...just maybe, she was attracted to him as well.

Lately, they had barely left each other's side, and they'd stayed at his place every other night, aside from when everyone would hang out when they could at their place in Rukongai which had been deemed 'The House'. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, he really enjoyed her company, but over the last month spending more time with her had made him become exponentially more attracted to her. And she certainly didn't make it much easier for him.

Occasionally, she would look at him for longer than usual with an unreadable expression, or when she would stroll around in just her little green kimono-like get-up with the black sash that just made her vibrant green orbs stand out like lights that he could swear that he could stare into all day, or when she'd lean her head on his shoulder tiredly as they went over pages and pages of paper work until late at night.

He was still in his own little world, even as they entered the house, and he sat down on the couch mechanically ignoring that Siren said that she was going for a shower and only just snapping out of it twenty minutes later when the girl he hadn't stopped thinking about all day came out with dripping wet hair, and a dark grey t-shirt that was probably two sizes too big for her.

It was big enough to cover everything, but when she walked over to one of the cupboards in the kitchen and reached up to grab something, the shirt lifted almost enough for her rear-end to be revealed and he actively had to stop his inner pervert from thinking about everything he would like to do to the woman, which didn't work too well, and the crotch area of his pants began to feel a little 'tighter' than a few moments ago.

Tearing his eyes off her, he went to 'his' room, for all intents and purposes and grabbed a clean pair of pants that he wore around the house. He zipped off into the shower without a word or a glance in her direction, knowing that if he heard her usual soft, calm voice that he would probably jump her, no matter if she asked him if he wanted water or something equally irrelevant to any sexual situation.

As Siren watched him nearly bolt past her into the bathroom, with her eyes widened slightly and an eyebrow raised in confusion, she thought about how odd he had been acting lately. She knew him incredibly well, even though they hadn't known each other for that long but she had noticed his behaviour was just becoming  _odd_. He seemed a little awkward around her sometimes and occasionally he would just walk away from her on the pretence of doing something significant.

Sighing, she realised that her blonde hair, blue-eyed and large chested friend was probably right. He probably did like her. It's not like she hadn't noticed how he had totally been checking her out earlier when she had been walking away from him, or sometimes when they were sparring. Shockingly enough, he was rather good at being very subtle about the whole thing, but when you lived as long as they did, you usually learnt to read people pretty well, especially when you were as observant as she was.

Hisagi suddenly came out of the bathroom, just wearing a pair of pants that sat low on his hips and the 'V' shape that formed from his stomach muscles and hip bones. Restraining herself from drooling or gawking, she tore her eyes away and looked in the opposite direction, with a strained expression and tapping her fingernails on her leg.

Noticing and deciding to mess with her, the dark-haired man walked over to her and stood in front of her, and waited for her head to turn and look at him. It took her a moment, but when she did turn to look at him, a droplet of water dripped from his black hair, onto his shoulder and down the front of his chest and toned stomach and eventually into the waistband of his pants. Suddenly realising that he couldn't have possibly not noticed her eyes following the droplet all the way down his body, she closed her eyes tightly and heard his soft laughter, which quickly got louder when she sighed/groaned in irritation.

He sat down on the couch at the other end with his legs up so he was facing her, still laughing, and a vein popped in her forehead. Two could play this little game. She got on her hands and knees and crawled towards him while he was too busy laughing to notice. Gently flopping down to sit on his lap, his eyes snapped open and utter shock was written on his face as clearly as the number '69' on his cheek. He looked down to see that yes, she was actually sitting on his lap. Two small fingers were placed under his chin and lifted his head up to look into Siren's eyes, which had darkened dramatically.

"Something funny... _Shuhei?_ " she whispered to him, using his first name for the second time that day, not breaking eye contact and biting her lip subconsciously as she heard his breathing quicken.

The tattooed man tried terribly hard to form some sort of words, but failed terribly as Siren brought her face a little closer to his. She knew that this plan had turned into the physical embodiment of the word 'backfire' the moment he looked in her eyes that had clouded over with lust, but at least he stopped laughing at her. Hisagi's mind went completely blank and he brought a hand up to gently cup her cheek and one resting on her hip, as if he was afraid that she would come to her senses and try to back away.

Faces only centimetres away from each other, Hisagi breathed her name in disbelief and happiness that he might actually get to be intimate with the woman that he was totally crushing on. He brushed his nose against hers playfully, smiling about the fact that she hadn't pulled away, or kicked his ass yet. He was rewarded with an adorable smirk, and they both closed their eyes as they moved to close the gap between their lips.

Siren suddenly pulled back and Hisagi's head fell forward in chasing after her, but opened his eyes to see her shocked and worried face looking off into space. He knew that look too well, and immediately they both scrambled to their feet and got dressed in their shihakusho within seconds. They ran out the front door, and began using shunpo instantly, Siren getting ahead as she still struggled to try and put on her haori whilst trying not to get too far ahead of her fuku-taicho.

Within a few moments, they were standing a hundred metres away, looking at three arrancar who were looking around at the Seireitei they were standing above...


	6. Affinities and Arguments

**Chapter 6 – Affinities and Arguments**

_Siren suddenly pulled back and Hisagi's head fell forward in chasing after her, but opened his eyes to see her shocked and worried face looking off into space. He knew that look too well, and immediately they both scrambled to their feet and got dressed in their shihakusho within seconds. They ran out the front door, and began using shunpo instantly, Siren getting ahead as she still struggled to try and put on her haori whilst trying not to get too far ahead of her fuku-taicho._

_Within a few moments, they were standing a hundred metres away, looking at three arrancar who were looking around at the Seireitei they were standing above..._

Siren and Hisagi stood as they gazed upon the arrancar surveying the landscape beneath them. The Ninth Division taicho wasn't planning on waiting for any orders. If arrancar were here, in the Seireitei, something big was going on. They must be planning something. She flickered away only to appear in front of them a moment later, and Hisagi followed suit.

"Well, that was much quicker than I expected! Sounds like the emergency alarms are only just going off!" said the single female arrancar standing behind the two male ones with a dark smirk on her face. She had long, pale blonde hair, olive skin and from the distance, it seemed like she had bright blue eyes.

"Why are you here, arrancar?" Siren asked in a confident and strong voice that sounded a little odd to Hisagi's ears and her own.

"Is that any of your business, shinigami?" she retorted quietly, glaring faintly at the girl contesting with her.

Siren groaned at being called a shinigami. "Yes, it is actually. Now answer the fucking question." she spoke in an emotionless voice that suggested she was serious.

"How dare you speak to our master in such a manner!" snapped one of the others, who had messy black hair, and what looked like blue-grey eyes. His mask started on his chin and curled up around his ears to connect back with the chin piece.

Not bothering to remove her reiatsu sealing bracelet, she charged at the female arrancar, only to have the black-haired arrancar that was closest to her stop her. Not wasting any time, she began throwing every kick, punch, and anything else she could think of at him. Hand-to-hand combat clearly wasn't his strong point, and he was put completely on the defensive. Finally, she got an opening and her foot collided with his side with a sickening crunch. She definitely cracked or broke some ribs with that blow. Maybe they might have punctured a lung.

Without giving him a second to recover as he stumbled backwards and doubled over, she drew her zanpakuto and ran towards him. Summoning up strength, he too drew his zanpakuto that had a pale-blue hilt and an oval shaped tsuba just in time to block Siren's that was swinging downwards. She pulled back and swung horizontally, only to have it blocked again. Growling, she attempted to strike him again, and he dodged just enough for the blade to nick his chest.

Moments after Siren started her battle, Hisagi also drew his zanpakuto and charged at the male arrancar with the pale brown hair, and the dark amber looking eyes. His mask had one piece coming up from the bridge of his nose, and going up to his forehead where the ends curved up slightly. It had another piece exactly the same, except going underneath his eyes and curving downwards. The arrancar looked down his nose at the fuku-taicho and lifted his zanpakuto out of the scabbard just enough to block Hisagi's swing. Taking notice of the 'x' shaped tsuba and pale-orange hilt, he jumped back and waited for the arrancar's next move.

Sighing with irritation, the arrancar fully drew his katana and began to attack. He was physically strong, but his movements weren't based on skill and technique as much as Hisagi's were. Slowly, he was gaining the upper-hand, and he almost had him at one stage, but unfortunately, he leapt back out of the way and recovered for a moment.

At that moment, Siren's opponent did the same, and both arrancar glared at their opponents standing a few metres away from them. The black-haired arrancar slowly and gracefully swung his katana in front of him with a wave movement from left to right while the amber-eyed arrancar moved his katana from right to left in an 'M' shape and they both began to shout simultaneously.

"Drown, Acua-"

"Blaze, Incen-"

"Kasui! Kasai! That's enough." the female cut them off, with an authoritative tone that left no room for questioning or negotiation.

Immediately, they both fell back to drop to one knee next to their master. "My deepest apologies, Kaminari-sama!" they both apologised in unison, trying to redeem themselves.

"Let's go." the arrancar now known as Kaminari spoke again quietly, and turned to open a Garganta behind them all.

Siren and Hisagi yelled after them, but before either of them could get there, they were already too far gone. The small vizard growled low in frustration, and sheathed her zanpakuto. Hisagi sheathed his as well and they both went to the ground. Hitsugaya and Matsumoto turned up, wondering where the enemy had gone.

"Siren! Where are they?" Matsumoto asked, quite confused. They had come as fast as they could, but it seemed they were already too late.

"They're already gone. Hisagi and I came here as soon as I sensed the Garganta being opened. We fought with them for a few minutes, and I think two of them were going to release their zanpakuto, but their master told them not to. Then they just left." she answered, trying to tell them mostly everything that happened in the shortest way possible. She and Hisagi would have to give a report immediately and there would most likely be a meeting of some sort.

Before anyone else could speak, Hell Butterflies appeared, informing all taicho and fuku-taicho to report to the First Division barracks immediately. With a glance between the four of them, they made their way to the barracks, while Siren and Hisagi briefed Hitsugaya and Matsumoto on exactly what had happened (definitely excluding their little 'encounter' at The House). Minutes later, they were all standing in the large room that the captain's had their meetings in, with them all lined up as usual and their respective Lieutenants standing behind them.

"I call this meeting to order." boomed the voice of the old man sitting up the front of the room. "Kyubantai taicho, Siren. Kyubantai fuku-taicho, Hisagi Shuhei. Please step forward and tell us what happened." he asked, and the two said people stepped forward to stand in the middle of the two lines so they could be seen.

"Hai. My Lieutenant and I were in the Rukongai area, and I felt a Garganta opened by an arrancar with a very large reiatsu. We left immediately to investigate and found three arrancar standing above the Seireitei. I asked them why they were here, but they did not respond, so we both attacked the two who acted like Fraccion to the third. Just as they were about to release their zanpakuto, their master stopped them, and they left before we could capture them." Siren spoke in an unwavering professional tone, but felt kind of stupid on the inside.

"Also, I believe that we may be able to determine their abilities from what we experienced. Their names were Kasui, Kasai, and it seemed like the female known as Kaminari was their leader. This could suggest some sort of elemental affinity. From what I heard of the release commands from my opponent, he said 'Drown', which may confirm my theory about elemental powers, his possibly being water. Hisagi fuku-taicho, what about your opponent?" she turned to him, hoping he hadn't spaced out during her little speech.

"My opponent's release command sounded like 'Blaze', suggesting that they may have some fire-based abilities. Also, when he attempted to use his Resurreccion, I felt the humidity and the temperature change slightly, but it stopped as soon as he was interrupted." Hisagi spoke in his professional voice as well, feeling a little odd about being the centre of attention.

Siren nodded, taking it in. "They were all strong, but I think the real problem will be their leader, Kaminari. It seems like she is going to be the most trouble, and if her abilities are anything like I presume, there is a possibility of very high damage to anyone and anything near her while she is fighting."

"And why do you say that?" asked Hitsugaya out of the blue.

"Because I am under the impression that her abilities are similar, if not the same as my own. From the small amount she was releasing naturally, it felt like her reiatsu was almost exactly the same as mine." she answered, if a little reluctantly with her gaze directed at the turquoise eyes of the young, white-haired captain.

Everyone went silent at this revelation, wondering about what they should do if these new enemies should appear before them yet again. They were all quite surprised at the new captain's deductive abilities, having figured all this out in the five minutes or so that the arrancar had left through the Garganta. Even Hisagi, Ukitake and Kyoraku were a little shocked at the intelligence she showed. Renji had a small grin on his face, happy that everyone was now finally realising just why Siren was such a good captain. Vizard or not.

"Then you are probably the only one who might be able to cancel out her abilities completely, rendering her only being able to use anything else she might have." Hitsugaya replied, contemplating anyone else whose power could have the same effect.

"There is no guarantee of that, but because of our similar reiatsu, it may be possible for me to control her lightning, but that may mean she will also be able to control mine. Using other elemental zanpakuto against her will only decimate the immediate vicinity, and I have no knowledge of any Kido types that could work against lightning. Melee types are almost completely eliminated since most of them use weapons, which can conduct electricity..." she trailed off, thinking to herself about any options that they may have.

"Either way, we would need the fastest of us to be ready at any given time if we're going up against lightning. I propose that Kuchiki, Soifon and I will be the first to act if they appear again. I will sense them earlier than everyone else, so I will go to the scene first off and test if our theory on my power negating hers will work. If not, I will continue to fight her anyway and have Kuchiki and Soifon ready to take over if I should fall." Siren said, taking most of the other's in the room by surprise again with her simple, yet incredibly effective strategy.

"Kuchiki-taicho, Soifon-taicho. Do you agree with the idea that Siren-taicho has proposed?" spoke the bearded Captain-Commander.

"Hai." they both said in unison.

"Then it is decided. Kyubantai taicho, Siren. You are to act first should the arrancar appear again. Rokubantai taicho, Kuchiki Byakuya, Nibantai taicho, Soifon. You are to assist or take over should Siren fall. Dismissed." the So-taicho said with finality, and the shinigami (and vizard) in the room began to stroll out of the huge doors.

Hisagi and Siren began walking casually back to the Ninth Division barracks and he was finally snapped out of his daze, everything that had happened in the last hour or so sinking in. Siren seemed very adamant about taking on the female arrancar named Kaminari on herself, and she hadn't said a word, much less even looked up from the ground since the meeting finished. She seemed to be in deep thought, and he decided to take her somewhere she hadn't been yet in the Seireitei.

A few minutes later, without Siren realising it at all, they were standing out of the front of the  _Seireitei Communication_  Editing Department. Everyone came rushing over to Hisagi and their captain, who was snapped out of her thoughts by members of her division bombarding her with questions about the arrancar. After quickly briefing them about it just being three arrancar trying to cause trouble (which it technically was, but she didn't exactly elaborate on the severity of said trouble) they backed off and got on with whatever they were doing earlier.

She turned to Hisagi, rather confused. "Why are members of our division here? And what are we doing here?!"

"It's the Ninth Division's job to run the  _Seireitei Communication_. Didn't you know that?"

"Kensei didn't tell me that...bastard." she said to no one and pretended that she was choking Kensei, which was actually just the air. "No, I didn't pay attention to that when I was here way back when. And I don't want to run the damn magazine, make someone else do it!" she went to storm out but stopped when she saw 'Shuhei-sensei' out the corner of her eye written on an open page of the magazine.

Instantly, she whirled around to look at the page to discover an article called  _'Please Teach Me! Shuhei-Sensei!'_  on the page. She snorted faintly with laughter, and read the first few lines. Her laughter got louder and louder, and within a minute she was literally rolling on the floor, in tears from laughing so much. Hisagi watched on, completely unaware that her amusement was at his expense, and he walked over to see the magazine on the floor next to her, opened to his article. His face swiftly pulled into a scowl, and it was his turn to attempt a storm out, even though he didn't get far.

"Oi, Hisagi! I-I'm sorry, it-it's just so funny!" Siren said, using every ounce of her self-control and composure to try and stop laughing. Her body was shaking with the effort, and the moment she saw the title of the article again, she burst out laughing again. He went to walk out again, but was stopped by the hand that had grabbed onto the bottom of his shihakusho and grasped onto his leg. Siren looked up to see his disgruntled expression, and she didn't really want to make it worse, just in case he wouldn't cook dinner for her tonight, but the temptation was too great.

"Please, teach me! Shuhei-sensei!" she spoke in a ridiculously innocent and sugar-sweet voice but there was dark amusement shining brightly in her eyes, and it only took another moment for her to start roaring with laughter again, and collapse to the floor.

Most of the other shinigami were trying not to laugh at the sight of their captain taking the piss out of the Lieutenant, but Hisagi sent them all a glare which stopped them immediately. Siren didn't let go of his leg, so she was dragged along the hallway floor, still laughing as the dark-haired man walked awkwardly dragging her along until the green-eyed woman collected herself. She got up and walked beside him, lips tightly shut so she wouldn't continue laughing.

After they got to his place, he cooked them both dinner (Siren being inwardly overjoyed that he actually did cook for her after she embarrassed the shit out of him) and a few hours later, Hisagi had decided to take a small nap on the couch, even though it would be dark soon already. Siren stayed up, doing as much paper work as she could, trying to eliminate having to do it all tomorrow. She couldn't stop thinking about the arrancar.

She thought about how great her luck was, for something like this to happen. She had just gained acceptance and didn't want reminders of Aizen's work around. She wrote down way too many words for her liking and signed her name mechanically. Paper work was truly a painful thing to do. It was half the reason she never wanted to rise up the ranks! She already got sent on missions a few times when she was still in the Shinigami Academy and that had turned her off paper work completely, after seeing how much the seated shinigami had to do.

She still didn't feel like a proper captain, but now she was kind of in charge of something pretty important, it had sunk in a little more. She definitely didn't want the arrancar turning up again, but she couldn't deny that it would give her a chance to show her worth. When the old man actually referred to her as 'Siren-taicho' it started to feel more natural than it used to, even though she still hated it in that insecure part of her mind.

Feeling a little drowsy after thinking so much, she moved to sit with her back leaning against the couch that Hisagi was asleep on. She looked at his peacefully sleeping face, marked with the scars and tattoos. A smile came across her face and her heart started pounding when his arm suddenly came to wrap around her shoulders and pull her closer to him. He was laying on his back, so when he pulled his arm in, her head landed straight on his chest. Inhaling his scent that seemed to have been tainted with sake ever since she turned up, she lifted her arms onto the couch and crossed them underneath her head.

Within the next few minutes, she was half-asleep and her breathing had evened out to a calm, relaxing speed. She was still wearing her shihakusho and haori, but that didn't seem to worry her at the moment. A kind hand was pulling her towards sleep gently, and she had almost succumbed to it completely when Hisagi awoke and his body flinched abruptly. It took him a moment to notice the small girl, whose green eyes were glaring at him with hell in them that was currently resting on his chest. They looked more familiar than usual, and a feeling of nostalgia washed over him.

"W-what?" he stuttered faintly, kind of worried about why the girl was glaring at him, since he was quite sure that he was asleep for the past hour or so.

"You woke me. I was trying to stay up and do more paper work, but...yeah." she trailed off faintly, and gestured to the muscular arm belonging to her Lieutenant that was currently draped over her shoulders. He flinched at the sight and snatched his arm away, expecting her to tear it off with her bare hands. Raising an eyebrow, she flicked his forehead nonchalantly and turned away, back to the small table she was attempting to complete paper work at.

Hisagi laid there comfortably, listening to Siren writing, trying to remember why he felt so nostalgic earlier. The dream he had come back to him in bits and pieces. After a moment, he put them into place and recalled something he had completely forgotten. Her earlier action of flicking his forehead had put the last piece into place.

_Walking past the sakura trees, Hisagi looked for a comfortable place to rest for a while. He had a pretty big day and he was quite exhausted. Sitting down in the shadow of one of the trees, he rested for a moment until he felt the presence of another person nearby. He looked up at the trees and to his right, there was a large tree that seemed to be the temporary resting place for said person._

_They were dressed entirely in black, looking quite a lot like a ninja. Abruptly realising that it was the clothes that the Keigun in the Onmitsukido wore, he stood up to sneak around and get a better look at them. Usually you only saw them in passing every now and then, and that was rare in itself. He walked to stand underneath the tree and look up at the small...female._

_He could only see the small section that revealed her eyes which were shut in resting. He could see soft, black hair that had been pulled back, but a few stray bangs popped out from behind the fabric. She was built like a person perfect for the Onmitsukido. Small, agile but still muscular and strong. He noticed that she was still very much a woman though, even though she didn't look more like the typical big-chested beauties._

_Gazing back up her body to her face again, he saw two big vibrant green eyes that contrasted with the small pink petals surrounding her staring straight into his eyes. He looked away self-consciously, hoping that she wouldn't beat him up for looking at her. Silently, she leapt down to land straight in front of him._

_She sized him up for a moment, before sighing and shaking her head. She raised her right arm and he flinched in preparation for what would be the beating of his life. Vowing to never check out an Onmitsukido member ever again, he shut his eyes tightly and waited for it. It didn't come. Whatever 'it' was anyway..._

_Opening one eye, he looked to see that the girl was just standing there, staring at him with an eyebrow raised. Then faster than he could register, her small hand appeared in front of his face and she flicked him firmly on the forehead. He made a small, barely audible sound of pain in the back of his throat, shocked at how much that actually hurt and put a hand over his forehead. She retracted her hand and the wind started to blow. Shutting his eyes, and covering his face with his arm, he waited until the wind had slowed down until he opened his eyes again._

_The girl was gone._

He snapped out of the now properly formed memory, and remembered the time that Siren had flicked his forehead just as casually at that first time amongst the sakura petals. How had he not remembered that before? Obviously it happened years and years ago, but that small encounter had stuck with him for ages, until it obviously was replaced by other memories. Before he could tell her about it, the green-eyed woman spoke.

"Why do you never release your zanpakuto?" she paused, waiting for his answer, but continued when he didn't say anything. "I've only seen it like once or twice when I've been training you. It's just kind of odd since I'm your captain and all."

"I don't like it." he said simply, not really wanting to go into the matter. But he hadn't really talked with her about it before, so it's not surprising that she brought it up eventually. It's not he had any reason to not talk about it either.

"Could you elaborate on that for me?" she asked with a slightly bemused tone.

"I don't like how it's shaped. It honestly looks like it's only meant to kill." he spoke quieter, guessing that he couldn't really get out of talking about it, especially with the tone she was using.

"What's the point of not liking it when it obviously came from a part of you? That would mean that you have a small part of you that is destructive. It's not like that's different from anyone else." she reasoned, just trying to have a discussion with him. He didn't exactly take it that way though...

"Exactly the problem. I don't like the idea of that." he said, if a little sharply.

"Fair enough. But it's still part of you nonetheless." she retorted, her tone also getting a little sharp.

He scoffed. "What about you then? Do you like your hollow side?" he watched her expression dead pan, and wondered if he had gone too far.

"Are you so naïve as to not realise that the rules are different for me? I'm practically a different species." she spoke quite tonelessly, trying not to get angry at him.

"How are these 'rules' different for you? Your inner hollow is 'still part of you nonetheless." he mocked and she could feel her anger increasing by the second.

"Then if I could accept my being part hollow, how can you not accept having destructive desires? It's basically the same fucking thing!"

"Don't insult me like that! I actually fear that side of me, I fear my own power. It's a sign of respect to fight for justice! I was taught that without that fear I have no right to wield a sword at all or use the power you have!" he was nearly yelling now, and his usual calm self was long gone.

"Oh, let me guess.  _Tosen-taicho_  told you that. Ugh, you really got to come up with your own views. Just because you're old captain had those views, it doesn't mean you have to adopt them. Suppressing your stress and desire for chaos has only made it become the embodiment of your zanpakuto."

He was really getting pissed off now. "How dare you insult Tosen?! Even though he may have strayed, in the end he realised his wrong-doing!"

"Wah." she mocked and made loose fists and turned them as they hovered over her eyes, making a crying face. "His repentance doesn't mean shit. He worked with Aizen for 100 years, maybe more. After that much time, only  _just_  realising he might have been wrong is kind of fucking pointless."

"That shouldn't matter! What if Aizen had brainwashed him in some way? We never found out how he joined forces with him or event met Aizen, so how could we ever know?"

"I'm pretty sure you were there when he explained why he did what he did. For his  _petty revenge_." she made a vomiting sound, and he narrowed his eyes further at her.

"His best friend was killed! And he was pissed off! It would only be natural to harbour some anger towards whoever caused her death."

"Yeah, so he decides to join up with Aizen and co. so they can destroy thousands of innocent human lives in Karakura Town as well as attempting to kill you and Komamura, so that they could create the King's Key and do fuck knows what with it. I applaud him for holding true to his philosophy of 'taking the path with less bloodshed'!" she started clapping with extreme sarcasm, further mocking his ridiculous hero-worship of the former Ninth Division captain. "You should wait another hundred years before you start talking like you know everything."

"How would you know anything about him? You never met him before! I haven't even talked to you about him!"

"Two words, Hisagi. Muguruma Kensei. The captain he cut down, to be hollowfied along with Shinji and the others. And he killed three of his comrades without batting a fucking eyelash! I lived with them for 10 years. I know what happened."

"What does this even have to do with me not liking my zanpakuto anyway!? I don't like it because I do not enjoy killing and my zanpakuto looks like it's supposed to reap life itself! I fear that power for a noble reason, and it's just too bad that you can't understand that." he paused for a moment and crossed his arms angrily, and there was a little voice in his mind telling him that what he was going to say next was probably too far, but he ignored it in his anger. "Maybe you just can't understand such a thing because you're part hollow."

Siren was quiet for a moment and closed her eyes before replying quietly, speaking slowly. "Hisagi. It's true, I am part hollow. The thing that we have been trained to fight the many years that we have been working as shinigami. Do you honestly think that I do not fear that side of myself? Ever since I instinctively threw myself in front of Ukitake when he got sick in the middle of battle, I have been psychologically tortured and bombarded by what was made a part of me in some phenomena." she inhaled and exhaled shakily, recalling all that she had been through the past thirty years.

"Instead of whining because you don't like your zanpakuto, how about you step into the shoes of someone who has to deal with being more closely related to the three arrancar that we fought earlier than anyone else in Soul Society. Why do you think that the vizards never returned to Soul Society after the war, even though they would have been able to? It is because of you... _shinigami_." she paused, breathing shakily again and pointed at him, trying to contain the strangle hold she had on her anger. She couldn't remember the last time she had been so enraged.

"Three shinigami conspired against their comrades all for the sake of 'experiments' and  _power._  One of the three being the previous Ninth Division captain. The man you looked up to and admired for his justice and what not, Tosen Kaname, betrayed Kensei, his own captain and cut him down without batting an eyelash. Shinji, Hiyori, Rose, Love, Hachi, Mashiro, Risa and Kensei became part hollow because of one shinigami's lust for power and destruction of all that we know. The vizards have never betrayed Soul Society. All we did was exist after being victims of circumstances and certain people that caused us to change into what we are now." slowly, she got up, her small body trembling with immense anger. She opened the door but stopped to say her last words.

"If you truly think that fearing your own zanpakuto is like having fear that one day you might be consumed by the hollow inside...then _wake the_ fuck _up to yourself._ " and with that, she walked out the door, shutting it quietly behind her, still attempting to throttle her anger until she could release it. Her voice became much more like it did when she was wearing her mask, and she knew she was probably more pissed off than she had ever been.

It was dark by now, and she had a large urge to go tear up half of the Eleventh Division. Hoping that Ikkaku was there, so she could beat the shit out of him as well as anyone else who was up for taking her on, she headed there in hopes that maybe she would calm down after some sparring. There was noise coming from inside the training hall, and not surprisingly, she could hear Ikkaku laughing manically and yelling with joy.

Rolling her eyes at the antics which were so 'him', she opened the door, and strolled in and took a seat next to Yumichika. Mostly everyone greeted her, except for the two currently sparring which was Ikkaku and some Eleventh Division member that she hadn't seen before.

"Hey, are you alright? You seemed kind of pissed off." Yumichika asked the woman, who was clenching her jaw tightly with her gaze inward.

She looked at him and sighed before answering. "Not really. I just had a massive argument with Hisagi. I don't think I've ever been so angry or raised my voice so much in my whole life." she said with an awkward chuckle, realising how ridiculous the whole thing was.

"Lovers tiff, eh? Bit soon for that I would have thought." he replied, looking up at the ceiling, waiting for Siren to make some sort of amusing and exaggerated reaction.

"Wha- Hey! It's not like that, you fool!" she snapped and pushed him so he nearly fell off the seat. He laughed in response, glad that his prediction of her reaction would be correct.

"I'm just saying that you pair seem like you are together! You-are-totally-crushing-on-each-other!" he said each words between Siren's punches that landed on his arm, ribs, back and leg. He'd probably have a few bruises tomorrow, but he couldn't deny that he probably asked for it by egging her on. Dashing off, out of her reach, still chuckling, the Fifth Seat caught the full-strength glare that Siren would only use maybe once a week and his expression dead panned, before he turned away, trying not to laugh.

She growled briefly and moved her head to the left slightly as Ikkaku's opponent went flying past her head and almost crashed into the wall. Her arm flung out and she grabbed his left leg, so he dangled there for a few moments before she lowered him to the floor. He murmured his thanks while getting up and rubbing his sore head and the green-eyed woman went to walk out in the middle of the hall. She spoke to Ikkaku for a few minutes before he sat down to rest. Looking around, she decided on what way to go about her stress-release for the day.

"Alright. You five," she pointed to a group of five sitting at the far end of the hall, talking away casually. "On your feet."

They got up quickly, and walked over to her, wondering what the Ninth Division taicho could want with them. Taking a deep breath, Siren moved into a half-assed fighting stance and the eyes on the five shinigami widened as they realised what she was asking, or ordering...more or less. Most of the Eleventh Division knew that she usually only fought bare-handed, so they didn't bother picking up their discarded zanpakuto. Glancing at one another, they surrounded her and charged at her, hands clenched into fists.

Siren dodged each of their first attempts at getting a hit on her, and blocked the second. For a while, she just dodged and blocked, getting used to their weight, technique, speed, agility and style. As well as getting used to fighting five opponents at once. She hadn't done this kind of thing in a while. Then...she attacked. In just a few moments, they were all down and out for the count. Looking around at her defeated opponents, she huffed in disappointment, and gestured for another group, this time of six shinigami to come over and see how they went. The other's that were knocked out were moved out of the way in preparation.

Grinning with anticipation, they stalked over and began to circle her. One of them spoke up. "Don't think we're like those guys. We're all way above their level!" he said with confidence, and then the second round began.

Using the same strategy of analysing them before being offensive, she waited for the right time to strike on each of them. Unfortunately, for the arrogant one that spoke up, she took him out first, and he was moved out of the way by whoever was standing nearby. The smallest of them was the next to go, and then the taller one who was a little on the chubby side went after. Just barely, she dodged a kick her side and one of the guys behind her tried to get a lucky hit, but only received an elbow to the stomach before Siren knocked out the other three.

After about another half hour of going up against six more rounds of groups up to seven people, Siren had finally calmed down enough and decided to head out before it actually clicked in with someone that she had made a line of unconscious and injured shinigami against the wall. She knew it was that it was the night where Matsumoto had drinks with some of the members of the Eighth Division, but funnily enough she didn't feel like going to hang out.

Honestly, she was starting to feel like crap for what happened between her and Hisagi, and even though he said some pretty stupid things, she did as well. They were both in the wrong for continuing the argument and not just trying to calm down and solve things like adults. She was supposed to be older than him, she should have been able to calm herself for at least a moment before it got too out of hand. There wasn't much sense in worrying about it now, they'd screamed and shouted and mocked each other to their heart's content and they'd both probably have too much pride to apologise.

It was going to be a long week...

#

Several days later, ever since their fight, there had been an unspoken rule made between the Kyubantai taicho and the Kyubantai fuku-taicho; 'I-don't-want-to-see-you-unless-I-have-to-for-work-related-reasons'. Occasionally, she would drop some paper work off to him, and he would do the same to her. Most of the time they just got someone else to do it though. At the moment, Renji was in Siren's office whining about how they should 'stop screwing around, and just screw each other'. The comment certainly earned a large book making contact with his face, and his nose had finally stopped bleeding a few moments ago, so it was back to bitching.

"Siren, you know that you both like each other! So why don't you just apologise and get it over with!? It will start to affect your work-relationship soon, and then shit will really hit the fan." he pleaded, trying to reason with the insufferably stubborn woman.

"No. I told you what he said. And I know that I insulted him too, but he just took it too far. He just needs to get over this hero worship of Tosen. I mean, he killed the guy! Obviously he realised that Tosen wasn't some almighty deity. He's just holding out a candle for him. It's not helping him at all. He's not allowing himself an closure." she retorted back, her voice becoming quieter on the last part.

"Oh my god. You really do like him." Renji drawled, realising why Siren was trying so hard to force Hisagi to get over Tosen and his betrayal. Because she cared about him, and she could still see that small amount of loneliness in the black haired man's eyes that had appeared there ever since Tosen left with Gin and Aizen. Everyone could see it, but he seemed to be the more 'suffer-in-silence' type. He owed Rangiku-san a bottle of sake now. How was that woman always right with these things?

"Why does everyone keep saying that to me?" Siren dropped her chin to her chest with a groan of defeat and irritation.

"Because it's true. You are just trying to get him over the whole Tosen thing because you know he's still torn up about it now matter how much he denies it. It's written all over your face Siren."

She glared at him and scoffed. "Absolutely preposterous. I value him as a friend and Lieutenant. Nothing more."

"Bullshit. You are so stubborn. Can't you at least try and fix the problem though so the group can hang out at The House next week on our day off?" he pleaded again, hoping that putting it this way might work. He knew that Siren really enjoyed the rare times when everyone was able to get together and hang out. He was watching her inner debate and it looked like she was about to give in when...

Speak of the devil, the scarred and tattooed fuku-taicho walked through the door with a slightly nervous expression. Even though Renji was dying to stay so that he could tell Rangiku-san everything that happened, he took his leave silently, just glancing quickly at Siren who saw the small smile he had on his face from the corner of her eye. Hisagi approached her desk cautiously, almost as if he was expecting her to lash out and bite his head off...literally.

A few moments later, Siren casually threw a book through the open window, hearing someone attempting to look inside and listen to their conversation that hadn't even begun yet. Her thoughts about it being Renji were confirmed when he yelped in pain and swore loudly before walking briskly away. She glared at him through the wall, and made sure to listen carefully for anyone else that was trying to listen in. Turning her head back to Hisagi, she sighed faintly and waited for whatever it was he was here for. When Hisagi determined that the small, vengeful woman wasn't moving in for the kill, he bowed low.

"I'm really sorry!" he said kind of loudly, and stayed in a bowing position for a few moments until he noticed that she hadn't said anything yet. He stood back up to his full height to look at her. She was looking off to the right at the ground, chewing her lip with a far-off expression. She blinked a few times, and looked back to him, melancholy light shining in her glassy green eyes. It was only now that she realised how upset she really was by what he said. Since she hadn't confronted him, she hadn't thought about it. So it was just all boiling underneath the surface, waiting to be released.

"I really wanted to apologise earlier, but I was pretty certain that you would have torn my throat out of my neck if I stayed in your presence for longer than ten seconds." he flinched almost imperceptibly, when she looked at him with a glint in her eye that said 'Yeah, I probably would have'. He took a deep breath, and hoped that he didn't start stuttering like a nervous little boy.

"Let me make it up to you?" he asked hesitantly, sounding much more confident than he felt, but the wringing of his hands gave his nervousness away.

She raised a shaped black eyebrow at this, trying to keep her face as blank as possible. "How?"

"Really? I didn't think you would say yes-"

"I didn't, idiot. I asked you how." she cut him off, now trying to fight a smirk at his nervous state. She had never seen him like this before, and it was pretty funny. Placing her elbows on the desk, and linking her fingers together before resting her chin on them, she waited for him to speak again, even though he had suddenly become extremely interested in fiddling with his obi for no particular reason. He mumbled something incoherently, and she couldn't keep the blank look on her face any more as her expression contorted into 'extreme-confusion-with-a-side-of-suspicion'.

"Dinner." he said, only a little bit louder this time, still refusing to look at her. She just couldn't resist playing around with him a little bit.  _Payback...is a bitch,_  she thought and mentally chuckled darkly at her version of payback. She also considered that it might even be better than tearing his throat out.

"Hisagi, since I've been back here you have cooked for me more than I have for myself. What's so different?" she asked in 'confusion', even though she was pretty sure that she knew what he meant.

"...I mean...go...o-out." the raven-haired man stuttered and Siren shook her head and shrugged as if she still didn't know what he meant.

"Dude. Spit it out already." she spoke firmly, but with a chuckle, hoping that soon enough he would just come out with it already.

"I mean that maybe we could go out for dinner and that maybe it could be a date or something." he said much louder with frightening speed and they were both a little surprised that he didn't mess it up. Siren's blank face kind of scared him and he couldn't take his eyes off hers, looking for any sign of acceptance or rejection. So much so that he didn't see the book flying towards him and smack him in the face.

"Ouuucchh." he hissed and whimpered in pain, then forgot about it for a moment when he remembered that Siren threw it. His head snapped up and he glared at her ready to bust a nut and tell her off, but he melted at the sight of her cheeks being slightly pink, struggling not to smile and looking away from him at the floor defiantly. She certainly hadn't expected him to react like that. All she was planning to do was ask him to repeat it over and over until he realised that she'd pretty much heard him the first time and his reaction had really caught her off-guard. Quickly, she composed herself and put on her blank mask again and turned back to him.

"May I enquire as to when shall this event take place?" she asked with a little hint of nobility in her voice, almost breaking her composure and cracking up laughing as she wondered where the six-foot long stick with the name 'Kuchiki Byakuya' written on it in fancy writing that was currently stuck up her ass had come from.

"Um, well how about when we both have our day off next week? We could spend the day doing whatever you want and then go out for dinner or something...I'm not very good with this kind of thing." he admitted with a chuckle, scratching the back of his head and loosing most of his shyness at her obvious interest, since she couldn't hide from him behind blank expressions. She thought quietly for a moment before replying.

"That is acceptable. Now, if you wouldn't mind I must excuse myself and drop this report off at the Tenth Division." she got up out of her chair, and refused to look back at him as she walked out the door, not being able to hide the school-girl grin on her face any longer. If she had looked back, she would have seen him grinning even bigger and brighter than she was. He had a feeling that she wasn't just dropping off a report.

She ran all the way to Tenth Division, realising that Matsumoto was right. She really did like him. And it was great, but it sucked at the same time. If Hisagi thought he wasn't very good with dates and all that, he'd just have to wait and find out about how inexperienced she was with all those romantic interludes. Opening Matsumoto's office door, she found her laying on the couch, dozing lightly, but her eyes opened after hearing the door open.

"You will  _never_  guess what just happened!" she whispered excitedly, impatient to tell her close friend about the whole shebang.

"Shuhei finally asked you out?" the blonde beauty asked evenly. Siren's shoulders slumped, and her arms dangled beside her and she dropped her chin to her chest with a groan.

"How long have you been involved with this?" the small, haori-clad woman asked her, completely defeated. She should have known that Matsumoto probably would have pestered Hisagi until he asked her or something. That would be just like her.

"I was just about to come and say hi to you guys the other day, but you two were arguing really loudly. So I just left and waited to see Shuhei the next day. And I talked to him."

"So, basically you annoyed him until he agreed to ask me out to apologise?"

"Yep!" the other woman who had only just moved to nod her head, speaking way too excitedly.

Siren laid down on her other couch in the same position, with her arms crossed behind her head, and they both looked at the ceiling before closing their respective green and blue eyes.

"You do realise that I'll be helping you get ready for your date with Shuhei, right? We're going all out. A nice kimono, or maybe a western style dress. Maybe a little bit of make-up, and I'll do your hair too!..."the woman continued to speak as Siren slowly dozed off into a light sleep.

_Next week is certainly going to be interesting...that's for sure..._


	7. Inception and Conclusion

**Chapter 7: Inception and Conclusion**

Today was the day. She still couldn't believe she was actually going through with this. A lot of weird things had happened in her life, but this one was definitely in the top ten.

She was  _going out_...

On a  _date_...

With  _Hisagi Shuhei_...

Oh yes, this may even be in the top five. She had never been on an actual 'date' before, so it was going to be an experience. Especially when she couldn't lie to herself any longer about being extremely attracted to him. Matsumoto wasn't helping either. Siren had been over her place most of the day, getting ready and all she had done was float around the room with stars in her eyes talking about how they'd make such a cute couple while Siren's green eyes followed her blankly, seriously considering that the blonde woman might be more excited about this whole thing than she was.

_Not that I'm excited or anything_ _..._ she tried to convince herself as Matsumoto pulled out a large pink bag, filled with all sorts of coloured items that Siren had only ever seen when they went shopping together for some essentials ages ago on their first 'girl's day out'. She pulled out a black pencil and a small bottle of pale coloured liquid. Twenty minutes later, Siren was glaring at the mirror, wondering who the hell was staring back at her. Her green eyes had been framed with a soft line of black, and Matsumoto had dabbed a little of the skin coloured liquid on her face, then spent the next five minutes rambling about how she barely needed any of it because her skin was so nice before attacking her shoulder length, black hair with some weird clips that held up certain parts of it.

"I look ridiculous. I don't even look like me!" she turned to glare at her friend, whose blue eyes shone happily even though Siren just expressed her dislike for what she had done.

"Don't worry so much! I'm sure Shuhei will be surprised!" Matsumoto said cheerily, and lead her friend to the bedroom where her clothes for the evening had been laid out.

One look at them, and Siren hated that she let Matsumoto do this to her even more. "Hell no. I'm wearing my shinigami robes. Way more comfortable and practical than whatever...that is." she spoke as she waved a dismissive finger at the black dress that was staring back at her.

It was a shin length dress and it looked like half the back was missing from it, and the neckline would plunge to below her breasts, only the material on either side covering them. Siren couldn't deny that it would probably look quite elegant (in a very revealing way) on her, but she'd die before she put that on.

"I guessed that you wouldn't like it...so I did prepare a more 'you' outfit. Even though I think that Shuhei would drop dead on the spot after seeing you in the dress..." she trailed off, and pulled out the back-up outfit.

Giving it the once over, Siren decided it was  _much_  better than the dress. It was black jeans that would hug her toned legs nice and tightly. The shirt was a pale green, just a few tones lighter than her eyes and it had a simple black pattern on the left side. Nothing too special, but that was exactly how Siren liked it. Simple. She went in the other room to change, and she just couldn't recognise herself at all.

When she came out, Matsumoto clapped her hands together and made a high-pitched sound of adoration, which earned a low growl and another glare from the target. The top fit her perfectly and it flared out in all the right places and the black pants accentuated her good figure wonderfully. A scowl was plastered on her face, and she couldn't think of any other way that this 'date' could get any worse before it had even started.

As if things couldn't get any worse, Hisagi arrived at that exact moment. Matsumoto opened the door and he laid eyes on the woman who was dressed in a green top and black jeans, with a fierce scowl on her face and glaring off into the distance with her arms crossed. He tore his eyes off her, an amused smirk on his face, and glanced over to Matsumoto who started scolding her for not even looking at her date yet.

Tensing visibly, she blushed scarlet at him actually being referred to her 'date' and whirled around to turn her back to them and glare at the wall with her arms still crossed. Laughing innocently, the Tenth Division fuku-taicho walked over to her and firmly grabbed her shoulders and began to drag her towards the door while she tried to hold onto the wall, which failed miserably.

Siren was pushed into a muscular chest and Matsumoto said to 'have fun' and winked suggestively before she shut the door to leave them both standing there, feeling more than a little awkward. Realising who her back was currently pressed up again, she scrambled to correct herself, and quickly took back up her stance of hunched shoulders, crossed arms and a scowl, looking anywhere  _except_  at him. He chuckled with a mix of awkwardness and amusement and tried to figure out what to say.

"Hey." was about the best he could come up with at the moment, and he mentally slapped himself for acting so nervous. She grunted in reply, and he couldn't help but smile at her antics. "Surely it's not that bad to be dressed up once in a while." he attempted to encourage her, though it probably wouldn't work.

"Yes it is. I don't even look like m-me." she stuttered as she finally looked at him and turned her head away instantly, knowing that if she didn't, she wouldn't be able to stop looking at him all night.

From what she saw in that split second, he was wearing a simple white shirt, and a black zip-up jacket over the top. She could see out of the corner of her eye that was mostly covered by her hair that he was wearing a simple pair of jeans. She saw him moving and she looked back in front of her to see him trying to look at her. Clawing at the air to keep him away, she turned the other way and crossed her arms again, grumbling about Matsumoto being evil and that she would get her back for this.

"Oi, look at me." Hisagi said laughingly at the woman in front of him. He thought she was being adorably shy.

"Nope! First things first, we are getting out of the Seireitei!" she answered and twirled around and stomped off loudly before stopping abruptly and looking around in alarm, thinking that she heard someone coming.

Still laughing softly, he followed quietly behind her and shook his head at her making sure that they only took paths that were completely void of people. It took them about twice as long to get out of the Seireitei, and they began strolling around Rukongai. Her hair was still covering her face and she still refused to look at him, even though he continued to ask her to.

He decided it was time for desperate measures. He gently put his hand on her shoulder and attempted to spin her around, but all credit to her years of training, she predicted it and grabbed his wrist and attempted to turn out of his grip. Unfortunately for her, he guessed she would do that, and his other arm snaked around her waist and eventually she ended up being pressed against with her arms pinned beside her in an embrace.

Finally she looked at him, and his small smile expressed more than the biggest of grins and she blushed faintly and tried to wriggle her arms out so she could kick his ass. He chuckled and held on tighter, his weight and height giving him an advantage and after she gave up with a groan, he rested his forehead on her small shoulder, still laughing faintly for a few more moments.

"I'll admit that you don't look much like yourself, but you still look beautiful either way. So stop hiding from me, damn it." he said with a mock-scolding tone and pulled his head back to see her blushing as red as Renji's hair and chewing her lip. He chuckled again, and the arm around her waist dropped to intertwine his fingers with her much smaller ones, and his other hand came to the back of her head, and he pressed a light kiss to her hair and smiled happily before pulling away and starting to walk again.

The blush intensified, and she composed herself before walking beside him, looking at her feet, the nervousness fully setting in. Especially since he was holding her hand. This was all new to her, and even though it was freaking her out to no end, she had already made a mental vow to  _try_  and not make an ass of herself. Within a few minutes, their initial shyness wore off a little and soon enough they were both making jokes and laughing, acting completely normal. They were both having a great time, and within half an hour or so it started getting dark, and they began to walk towards whatever place they were going to for dinner. He had refused to tell her where they were going, but that was only because he was so damn nervous that he couldn't even remember the name of the place.

A few minutes later, they turned into the street and he told her that it was one of the places around here and she saw a small, but cosy and laid back restaurant three buildings down, and she pointed to it hopefully. She was seriously hoping that they weren't going to some fancy joint. He tensed and dropped his head in defeat and confirmed her choice.

"Really? Did I get it right?" she asked, kind of surprised that she was correct.

"If you like the idea, then yes." he answered reluctantly, and the breath he didn't know he was holding came out at once when she smiled brightly and nodded vigorously in response. He smiled happily as well as they walked towards the restaurant.

He felt absolutely relieved that she liked the place and they sat down in their seats before looking at the menu while they talked and laughed. They were both thinking about how great the night was going so far, all previous anger toward one another completely forgotten. When the waitress came around she told them that they had a few meals that were cheaper tonight, one of them being barbecue pork with noodles and the table's occupants looked at each other knowingly and ordered two servings of said dish.

They both dug in hungrily when it arrived, not realising how hungry they both were from not eating all day - out of nervousness, no doubt - until the smell of the delicious food wafted along to hit their nostrils. Both laughing at how ridiculous it was for them to be so nervous, even though they were such good friends, they finished up their meal and talked for a while before deciding to leave and take a walk.

Not surprisingly, there was a hissed and whispered argument about who would pay the bill, but when Siren foot suddenly appeared dangerously close to his most private area under the table, he admitted defeat and lowered his head and she placed the correct amount of money, as well as a decent tip in the small black folder they were given and he followed her as she got up and gave it to their waitress. They walked outside, where the cool night air was blowing and the moon was full in the sky.

"Hey, you didn't drink...what the hell? Are you feeling okay?" Hisagi asked teasingly as they walked, but still considerably shocked that the unquestionable drinking machine had not ingested any alcohol that he had seen so far.

"Because if I did, I would have drank the place dry. And besides..." she trailed off, deciding not to say what she had planned to, losing her confidence at the last second.

"And besides, what?" he pried, trying to get it out of her.

"Nothing." she said casually, but a little too quickly and high-pitched for him to be convinced. He just stared at her with a faint smirk, and she groaned and gave up after seeing that he wasn't going to stop bugging her until she told him. "It's just...I'm having a good time, and I want to make sure that I remember it properly. It's hard to keep my hollow side quiet normally, which is why I drink so often, but I'm feeling good so it's quiet." she said so quietly it was barely audible.

"Are you suggesting that you have problems remembering things when you drink?" he continued to tease, knowing that she was quite proud of her drinking abilities.

"Pfft, don't be ridiculous. Sometimes it just makes things a little more...fuzzy."

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him, laughing softly. "Well, I'm just glad you're having a good time. And I am too." he nuzzled her cheek and huffed in adoration when she blushed faintly and turned her head away so he wouldn't see it.

After walking for a little while longer, he had a thought. Something that hadn't occurred to him before now. "Do you have a proper name, aside Siren? Or do you not remember your name?" he asked with a curious tone.

"I do, but I don't usually tell people. I might tell you sometime though, if I'm in the mood to divulge such a thing." She moved her hands animatedly as she spoke, looking a little silly.

He laughed at her antics and they decided to head back to his place and get some sleep since they'd both been too nervous to sleep the night before, though they didn't exactly make that fact known to one another. Siren started her sneaking again as soon as they got back into the Seireitei, and they managed to avoid running into anyone. He kept telling her that it wouldn't matter if anyone saw her since no one would recognise her, but she was adamant about keeping this new appearance completely secret. It made him happy to know that only he and Matsumoto had seen her like this.

They got back to his place a little while later, and she sighed happily when they got there. She quickly ran into the bathroom before he could say anything and took off whatever Matsumoto had put on her face, which to her credit hadn't smudged or faded much. She wet her hands a little and ruffled her hair, then flattened it until it was something reminiscent of its usual style.

Nodding once, she strolled out to find Hisagi was right in the middle of changing his shirt. As soon as she saw his bare skin, her head turned away instantaneously and the movement caught his attention from the corner of his eye. He chuckled faintly and pulled the simple black shirt over his head, picked something up from the small table and walked over to her. She turned to look at him when he stood in front of her, and she raised an eyebrow at his command.

"Close your eyes, and put your hands out."

"Eh? What are you up to?" she asked suspiciously, wondering what the man was doing.

"You'll never find out until you close your eyes and put your hands out." he reiterated and smiled as she did as he said.

She felt some material on her hands, and he said that she could open her eyes. When she did, she saw a brand new pair of shihakusho. Ninth Division style with no sleeves. Smiling happily, she ran off to change into them. She had wanted to get a pair since she became the captain of the division, but just never got around to doing it. Both Ukitake and Kyoraku always had a spare pair of Second Division and Onmitskido uniforms for her, which was where she got the ones she was wearing. When she had changed, she looked in the mirror, feeling more like part of her squad than ever.

He grinned as she came out, looking very happy with his spontaneous idea for a gift and he too thought that she looked more like a Ninth Division member than ever. He picked up her haori, which thanks to Ishida was sleeveless as well, and handed it to her. She put it on and crossed her arms and pretended to look 'heroic' before speaking.

"How do I look?" she asked in a mocking tone before breaking her composure and shaking her head in amusement.

Instead of answering her with words, he walked over to her and gently brushed her cheek with the backs of his fingers and rested his forehead against hers, another one of those small but incredibly expressive and happy smiles on his face. They were both  _so_ dense to not realise how much they liked each other. At the sudden change of pace and the sudden increase in physical contact, she smiled the same way he was, but she was still a little too shy to actually do something aside that.

He brought his other arm up and cupped her face in his hands, and nuzzled her nose playfully, just like last time they had almost kissed. She knew what he planned to do and mentally prepared herself. He brushed his lips against hers, testing her reaction and when she didn't totally freak out, he gently pressed them against her own. It started out slow, and slightly unsure but they quickly got used to it as the kiss grew more passionate and intense. After the need for air became dire, they pulled back and caught their breath for a few moments and smiled at each other.

"Ikazuchi." Siren said out of the blue. He raised an eyebrow in question before she continued. "Tetsuya Ikazuchi...my name."

His eyes went wide at this, then he smiled, knowing that she was trusting him with knowing her real name. He had never really thought about it up until now, but Siren didn't really seem like more than a nickname that had just stuck. He pulled her close to him and tilted his head down as she tilted hers upwards. They were about to continue, when Siren stopped abruptly and whirled around.

"GOD DAMN IT!" she screeched, scaring the hell out of Hisagi, and he held his hands up in front of him just in case it was something he did wrong. She turned to him with a serious look on her face. "They're back."

Within moments, they had both grabbed their zanpakuto and Hisagi had changed into his shihakusho in record time and they set out immediately, heading for the source of the reiatsu that Hisagi could feel now that they had come through the Garganta properly. Siren went ahead as usual, and he could feel her reiatsu fluctuating slightly with anger. He was surprised with his own speed as she didn't get too far away from him before they stopped a little ways away from the three familiar arrancar who had only just appeared last week in the very same spot above the Seireitei.

With a glance and a small nod, they turned toward their opponents who hadn't seemed to notice them and they both flickered out of sight, and appeared in front of them for the second time since last week. Siren was totally pissed off that they just had to come  _now_  but at least she could get rid of them already.

"Seems like our guests of honour have arrived. How wonderful to see you again!" Kaminari spoke sharply with dark amusement.

"Isn't it a shame that I don't feel the same way about you three?" Siren retorted quietly as closed her eyes and sighed in irritation.

"Kaminari-sama. Allow me to kill her for you. You need not dirty your hands with such a lowly shinigami." Kasui spoke while bowing to his master, the deep growl coming from their green-eyed enemy not going unnoticed.

"Don't assume that I'm some 'lowly shinigami', arrancar!" Siren said loudly, and she began to remove her reiatsu sealing bracelet. She popped the clasp, and let it fall to the ground, having a feeling that it breaking from the fall would be the least of her worries right now. Smirking darkly, she let off a large surge of reiatsu, and the three arrancar's eyes went wide at the different feel to this reiatsu.

It felt more like... _their own_.

"It doesn't matter what you are. You will still be killed by my blade!" he shouted and drew his zanpakuto and readied himself for the fight to begin.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Did you forget how easy it was for me to overpower you last time? The two of us nearly had you and your buddy releasing your zanpakuto within a few minutes last time we crossed blades!" she drew her zanpakuto as well, guessing that there would be no more words from the furious look in his eyes.

"Enough talk! Let's go."

And with that, Siren's battle had begun.

"Kaminari-sama, shall I take care of the other one?" Kasai spoke respectfully to his master, but he secretly wanted revenge on that punk for embarrassing him in front of her.

"Do whatever you want." the female arrancar said, turning her head to the side looking away from him, fully showing her mask. It was about two inches wide, and sat on her forehead, and went around, where it merged into two spikes that were about five or six inches long and sat on each side on the back of her head.

Hisagi prepared himself, and used his thumb to push on the tsuba of his zanpakuto in preparation for him drawing it. Kasai drew his zanpakuto and rushed towards Hisagi, and with that, his battle had begun as well.

For the last few moments, Siren and Kasui had been fighting back and forth. She noticed that his strength had increased, even if only a little, it still wasn't anywhere near enough to push her to her limits. After he blocked a downward swing from her, she jumped back a few metres away from him and held her arm out directly straight to the side, with the tip of her blade pointing to the sky., wasting no time to release her zanpakuto.

"Strike, Raikou Arashi." she spoke and the air changed instantly. The static electricity increased and Kasui noticed that it felt a little harder to move because it made the air so thick and dense with energy. Not that her reiatsu wasn't heavy enough already.

Confident that he could still stand up to her without relying on his Resurreccion, he took up his fighting stance again and waited for her attack. Without fail and almost too quick for him to react, she appeared out of thin air above him and swung the giant silver scythe she was wielding down. He just barely blocked and his initial confidence began to fade quickly.

Meanwhile, Hisagi's opponent, Kasai, also seemed to have a slight power increase. He was quite strong before, but now Hisagi was worried that he might have to release his zanpakuto if this guy released his. Usually it was his trump card, and he had trained so that he wouldn't have to rely on it, but sometimes he had no choice. Kasai was definitely a little physically stronger than last time, and there was more weight behind his attacks. His technique had improved slightly and he guessed that they had all been training for this battle.

He really wanted to hurry up and finish his fight with Kasai so he could take over with Kasui for Siren so she could fight Kaminari, but he had a feeling he was in for a pretty tough fight, and that he might not have the strength to take over after he defeated his opponent. At that moment, he nearly got a lucky shot on the amber-eyed arrancar who accidentally left himself open after a strength-based swing, but unfortunately the guy who was probably about 10 centimetres taller than himself, was much more agile than he looked and got out of the way.

Siren was quite sick of fighting Kasui already, and she decided to get serious and take the guy out already. She had hoped to gauge their power level since he was the weakest out of the three, but he was weaker than Kasai and hopelessly beneath Kaminari. She wasn't definitely not going to use her bankai or her hollow mask against this guy. No way, that was going to be saved for the female arrancar that was currently staring her down with bright blue eyes.

Flash stepping to Kasui's right, using enough speed so that he couldn't see her coming, she swung her scythe across and sure enough, he turned in the nick of time, and was cut right across his chest. It looked pretty deep and he leapt back, dropped to one knee and tried to collect himself and keep fighting after receiving such a hit. He looked up to see Siren watching him, waiting to see what he would do. The confidence in her eyes struck a nerve with him, and he decided that enough was enough. He was going to finish it  _now._

He stood back up to his full height, wincing slightly at the pain, and slowly swung his katana in front of him with a wave movement from left to right, just like he had done last time, before he was interrupted by his master. Siren knew what was coming, and braced herself for a huge increase in speed, power, and raw strength.

"Drown, Acuatico!" he yelled loudly, and moments later, when the dust cloud faded, Kasui's true form was revealed. It was like some sort of odd aquatic looking creature, and both his hands and feet had webbing in between the fingers and toes.

His size had doubled and his mask had now extended down onto his neck, and there were slits in it that almost looked like they could work as gills. He still had a weapon, which was a pale blue trident, the same colour as the hilt of its sealed form. Without wasting any time, he held Acuatico with the three prongs pointing at Siren and a light blue Cero began forming at the end of longest one that was in the middle. She cursed, still not wanting to reveal her mask, so she flash stepped out of the way of the huge blast. It seemed that he had lost his patience with her, and she decided to get it over with so she could take on Kaminari already.

While all that was happening, Hisagi and his opponent, Kasai had been fighting back and forth, neither one releasing their zanpakuto. That was until Kasai had again left himself open after putting more strength into one attack and Hisagi had sliced him deeply across his stomach. Jumping back and clutching a large hand over the wound, Kasai winced and shook his head. This shinigami was really annoying him.

With a lot of pain, he moved his zanpakuto in an 'M' shape, just as he did last time and Hisagi knew that he was going to use his Resurreccion, which would probably mean that his wounds would be healed.

"Blaze, Incendio!" Kasai roared loudly, and a cloud of dust shrouded him.

It cleared to reveal a huge bull-like behemoth, who was holding a large morning star with spikes at least a foot long each, in his right hand. His weapon alone would be at least Hisagi's height, and with the huge increase in his reiatsu (which was to be expected), Hisagi figured that he probably would have to use his shikai for this, but not until he absolutely had to. Faster than he expected, but not so fast as to overwhelm him, Kasai swung down the huge spiked club-like weapon and he knew that he couldn't block because of the massive amount of weight behind it.

Kasai chased him around the sky, and Hisagi avoided his blows by using shunpo, or just predicting his movements, which was rather easy to do because of his huge size. The only thing that would allow him to win is if he utilised his speed and agility as much as possible. While Kasai was swinging down, he stopping running and jumped up on his arm and slashed through his Hierro and gave him a cut about half a metre long on his forearm.

Before his huge left hand could swing around and grab a hold of him, he ran further up his arm and onto his shoulder, jumping when Kasai's arm swiped at him. What he didn't expect was for the arrancar to switch hands with his weapon and recklessly swing at the smaller body running around on his arm. Hisagi's eyes went wide with surprise, and he knew he couldn't dodge it completely, so he moved enough out of the way so he only got a large cut across his chest and up to his right shoulder, instead of being cleaved in half.

Siren heard his sound of pain, and leapt back from fighting her watery opponent. Her head whipped over to look at him, worry in her eyes, and she saw the huge beast that was Kasai's true form. Hisagi was currently standing a few metres away from him, doubled over and breathing heavily with his hand over his chest. She noticed the slash across it, and tore her eyes away as she felt Kasui's reiatsu increase slightly.

"You're finished!" Kasui yelled loudly, and made a quick, waving movement with his zanpakuto. "Tifon!" he shouted, and the wind blasted past her, causing her to hold an arm over her eyes with the force.

She moved it a moment later, worried about what he might have just done. There was bubbles filled with water floating all around them, and she watched as they all came together and formed a huge water spout in front of her. With the speed it was moving at, it would be very hard to avoid unless she really kicked it up a notch and used more of her speed.

Kaminari was standing above them, watching her subordinates fight. She knew that  _when_ , not if, when that chick finished Kasui, she would come straight for her. That was exactly what she wanted. She wanted to get the bitch back for being such a smart ass. She wasn't sure yet of who would win between Kasai and the shinigami that was fighting him, but she had a feeling that today just wasn't Kasai's day either. It didn't matter if she didn't have those two to fight. With her power, she could kill in the blink of an eye.

However, she couldn't deny that the female's reiatsu felt scarily like her own, and she contemplated that fact for a moment, before being forced to get out of the way of the huge waterspout that Kasui had just formed using his Tifon technique. It was about time he got serious. His opponent was clearly at captain level, and judging by that haori she was wearing, she was a captain as well. Kasai's opponent was also incredibly strong, even though it looked like he was only a Lieutenant going by the insignia tied on his left arm. Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden increase in Kasai's reiatsu.

"Petardo!" the bull-like arrancar shouted loudly, and began to swing his huge morning star through the air at nothing.

Hisagi was confused at first, but when the spikes in his weapon began flying out, aimed at him, he readied himself for a lot of flash stepping. Avoiding the first one, it made an explosion where it stopped and Hisagi knew that from the amount of spikes in the weapon, he probably wouldn't be able to dodge them all. They all seemed to come at him at once, almost like they were pre-empting his movements, and exploding just behind, or beside him. He was getting small burns on his body from all the fire and he just hoped that this was a one use attack. One flew towards him and he ran to his left, only to get the brunt of the one that was coming at him seconds after the first.

"How's that for you shinigami!? No one can avoid all of my Petardo!" Kasai yelled at his opponent, laughing at his misfortune of finally getting hit by the full strength explosion.

The dust cleared around Hisagi and he was breathing heavily. There were various burns on his body, the ones from before even worse now. He hissed and cursed when the spikes on Kasai's morning star regenerated, and as he swung the huge weapon again, he gathered up enough strength to dodge most of them, only getting about a quarter of the damage from three of them.

Siren felt the after effects of the various explosions and had already seen Kasai's Petardo technique out of the corner of her eye when she was avoiding the large waterspout creating by Kasui's Tifon. She felt Hisagi's reiatsu wavering a little, and she was worried that he would get to seriously wounded to keep going and win the fight. It was time to stop fucking around and get Kasui out of the way since Hisagi was too stubborn to release his shikai. Angry that she had to resort to this, she hid behind the waterspout so Kasui wouldn't see what happened to her until it was too late, and put on her mask.

Kaminari noticed the sudden increase in hollow-esque reiatsu coming from her but she couldn't see anything with the waterspout in the way, so she just assumed that Kasui was done for, and turned to watch the male shinigami attempt to avoid all of Kasai's Petardo. By the time she had turned her head to continue watching the other battle, Kasui's reiatsu surged, then stopped completely. She snapped her head around to see him with a huge deep wound, going through nearly half of his much larger body coming down from his neck, and to the middle of his stomach. He was dead. She only saw it for a split second, but she noticed something that was completely white on the green eyed woman's face before it disappeared into thin air.

Then, she appeared in front of her, a few metres back with her large scythe sitting across her shoulders casually. She was staring at her blankly, waiting for what she would do.

"Who are you? You aren't a shinigami. You're reiatsu feels more like an arrancar, but I don't see a broken mask on you." she said quietly, but just loud enough for the green-eyed woman to hear her.

"Gotei Jusan, Kyubantai taicho, Siren. And I'm not a shinigami. I'm a vizard." Siren answered tonelessly. She had had enough of these arrancar, and they were on her last nerve.

Hisagi had been analysing his opponent and had figured out that there was about a ten second time delay in between using his Petardo technique where he would be open to a counter-attack. During those ten seconds, the target was supposed to be too busy avoiding the explosions to concentrate or even notice that fact. He would have to time it just right, but he had a plan. He would get himself as close to Kasai as possible, while still maintaining enough distance to be out of close-combat range, and he would have to allow himself to look like he had been hit by his Petardo technique to conceal his movements and just as the spike exploded, he would release his zanpakuto and strike him after he was taken by surprise by the reiatsu burst.

Kasai let off his spikes again, sending them straight at the fuku-taicho he was battling. Hisagi dodged and looked for the perfect time to start using his plan. He saw a spike coming at him from the left, and another had just been released and it was flying towards his right. _That's it!_  He thought as he ran from the first and 'straight into' the second. In fact, he was standing a few metres behind it, and dropped his reiatsu slightly to imitate him being hit. At the same time, he spoke the words he had only spoken a handful of times in battle before.

"Reap, Kazeshini." he said quietly, and his reiatsu sky-rocketed.

Just as he had hoped, Kasai stopped immediately, the eyes you could see through his mask were wide with shock. While he was distracted, Hisagi flung one of his blades at the arrancar, his hand waiting to grasp the chain and yank it back to him. It was a lucky shot, but a good one and Kasai was given a huge cut right along the area where his neck and shoulder met, and he was slashed again on his shoulder when Hisagi pulled back on the chains and caught it perfectly.

Siren was still standing there, staring at Kaminari, waiting for her to move when she felt the familiar reiatsu increase from her Lieutenant. She looked over to see him cut Kasai and smirked darkly that he was actual using his shikai. Even though he didn't like it, he was extremely proficient in using it, and there was no way that Kasai would be able to stand up to him now. The path of the blades was almost impossible to follow properly, and even she had a lot of trouble getting using to fighting against it in the one time that he actually released it when they were training. She looked back to Kaminari, quite confident that Kasai would be finished in the next few minutes.

"Aren't you worried about your subordinate? He'll be dead soon now that Hisagi has released his zanpakuto." she said smugly to the arrancar in front of her with the pale-blonde hair.

"It's his own fault for being weak...So, I assume that guy is your Lieutenant?" she questioned the vizard, with an interested tone, making Siren narrow her eyes at the slightly predatory look on her face.

"He is." she replied simply, outright glaring at Kaminari, who was watching Hisagi rather intently.

"He's alright looking...for a shinigami." the blue-eyed woman said, having a feeling that this would definitely strike a chord with the Ninth Division captain.

Siren growled low in response, and wasted no time in charging at the arrancar. It was surprising that she had actually acted on her emotions in battle, but even Utsuro had piped up and yelled something about backing off from Hisagi, even though Kaminari wouldn't be able to hear it. She willed herself to be calm as Kaminari blocked the strike with her wakizashi zanpakuto that had a yellow hilt, and an 8-pointed star tsuba.

"Let's go." they both said at the same time and the decisive battle between the pale-blonde haired arrancar with the blue eyes and tan skin, and the black haired vizard with green eyes and pale skin had begun.

Hisagi was in the middle of pulling on Kazeshini's chain when he felt the two female's reiatsu soar. He pulled hard on the chain and he had cut Kasai again, across his right arm. He had tried to aim for that arm, which would help stop him from using that annoying Petardo technique that had given him several painful burns that ached and stung as he moved around. He had given him several good slashes along the right side of his body, but this current one was going to stop him from wielding his weapon completely.

Cutting straight through the tendons and veins in his right wrist, Kasai wailed in pain and tried not to drop his morning star, which was now heavier than ever. Suddenly he recalled earlier when he switched hands momentarily to try and get Hisagi off him. He took hold of the spiked club in his left hand, and hoped that he would be able to get just one good hit on him. Unfortunately, he didn't get time to do that, as Hisagi flash stepped and appeared on his right, and he threw one of Kazeshini's blades at him, and it made contact and sliced right through the right side of his chest, and cutting his heart. He looked at the fuku-taicho, eyes wide with pain and fell to the ground below.

Hisagi turned his head away from Kasai's body and looked to his captain fighting the arrancar. It was fierce. They had similar styles based on speed, agility, technique and physical strength. At the moment, they were equal, and the female arrancar was quickly losing her patience, dealing with this vizard.

They leapt back from each other, breathing slightly laboured, and Kaminari decided to see how this vizard went up against her Resurreccion. Abruptly, she threw her blade straight up into the sky, where it disappeared amongst the clouds.

"Flash, Relampago!" she yelled loudly, and her reiatsu became crushing as thunder began to rumble, and flashes of lightning appeared in the clouds above.

A gargoyle looking creature was now in front of her, with a long tail, large wings and long claws. The two spikes that used to be her mask became larger and thicker, and had moved to sit at either side of her forehead. Her wakizashi came back down from the sky, and she caught the blade with no problems. It almost thrummed and glowed brightly with electricity and its form had changed slightly, but Siren couldn't see properly because of the light it was giving off. She couldn't help but be impressed. Kaminari's Resurreccion certainly looked cool, and her reiatsu was nothing to sneeze at.

Then, Kaminari disappeared. She was almost too fast for her to keep up with, and when she flickered in and out of sight around her, swinging her shining blade at her, it took all the concentration and strength she had to stop herself from getting killed, or cut at the very least. However, she did notice that the female arrancar seemed to be only trying to cut her two different ways judging by her swings; from her shoulder, down her chest and stomach diagonally.

Kaminari appeared behind her and she tried to whirl around in time to block, but she didn't have time and was cut, just the way it seemed like she was trying to cut her. She gritted her teeth and cursed under her breath before leaping back out of the way. Unfortunately, Kaminari was just too fast, and before she could block, she was cut again, straight down the other side to give her an 'X' on her torso. And then, she was run through, in the very centre of the 'X'. She hadn't been stabbed in a vital place, but she had a feeling that this was part of a technique, and that she would probably die if she didn't use her bankai or her mask.

She was silent and unmoving for the next few seconds, which unnerved Kaminari. She wasn't dead, just standing there, with a blade sticking straight through her. It freaked her out enough to delay using her technique. Siren's right arm twitched faintly, and she lifted it up and threw it in the air slightly, for it to slowly descend and land on her right hand, with the top of the scythe pointing at the sky. Mustering up the strength, and blocking out the pain, she screamed.

" _BANKAI!_ "

The blue-eyed arrancar noticed that the amount of thunder and lightning had hugely increased, and then large rods, were struck into the ground by lightning in a large circle around their battlefield and electricity sparked between them. She realised that this woman must have a similar power to her, and without delaying, she screamed the name of her technique that killed anything it was aimed at after she had cut them correctly.

" _CENTELLA!_ "

Her reiatsu increased, but Siren's soared above hers and she was starting to wonder whether this 'vizard' was actually stronger than her. The technique would only take another few seconds until it was ready, but she was doubting whether it would be in time. When the huge bolt of lightning came to strike Siren down, Kaminari braced herself instinctively, even though it didn't affect her at all. But she never felt it.

She opened her eyes and looked up to see Siren's scythe still resting on the palm of her hand, and a smirk on her face. She had stopped her technique! Swiftly, Siren moved her hand from underneath and grabbed onto the middle of the scythe, ready to wield it again and grabbed onto Kaminari's hand that was holding the zanpakuto currently going straight through her. She smirked evilly before speaking again.

"Akuma Raikou Arashi." she said so quietly it was more like a whisper. Blue eyes went wide and she struggled to get out of Siren's grip, but it was futile. Suddenly, the katana was pulled out of her opponent's body, and she was kicked hard in the stomach and flew back, landing a few metres away.

Lifting her head, she started to get angry.  _This...vizard. How dare she think she's better than me!_  She screamed mentally and charged at said vizard. Siren blocked her swing nonchalantly, and whilst still blocking her zanpakuto, she twirled her scythe around with her hand to slash her across the chest and catch it again. The arrancar got even angrier at this cocky move and Siren could tell. It was her anger that was making her reckless and it was her anger that was causing her to lose. The blonde jumped back and glared her with hell in her eyes.

Siren rolled her eyes and brought her hand up to her face. Kaminari narrowed her eyes in confusion, and when the white hollow mask came over her face, she was in shock. So this was why her reiatsu felt more like an arrancar, because she was one, just in reverse and she could tap into her hollow powers separately. The black haired woman raised her zanpakuto to point the end at her and a Cero began forming at the end. It was let off quicker than she expected, and she knew she couldn't dodge it. She got hit with the full force of the blast.

Before she could realise, Siren was in front of her, swinging her scythe down and she was cut across from her shoulder, down her chest and stomach. And before she could lift up her zanpakuto to block, she was cut down the other side as well. When she was finally able to attempt a swing at her opponent, she felt the swing stop in mid-air, but no clash of steel signalling she had block it with her blade. She had blocked it with her hand! The small hand twisted around to grab onto the wakizashi and Kaminari felt cold steel go straight into her in the middle of her 'X'. With just one hand, Siren had blocked and stabbed her with her own weapon before she couldn't even register it! Kaminari couldn't move, and Siren's right arm raised up as if she was making the final strike with her scythe, but she stopped.

"You were a strong opponent. As a sign of my respect since you made me go all out, and are a fellow lightning user, I will defeat you with my full strength. Sayonara, Kaminari." she spoke quietly and slowly. Honestly, she had to respect the arrancar for making her use her full strength. And she hadn't met one shinigami, vizard, or arrancar (until her, of course) that used lightning.

Kaminari nodded, knowing she was done for. "Thanks for that...Siren."

Siren nodded as well, and her reiatsu went through the roof and she spoke the single word that would decimate everything that got hit by it.

"Rakurai." she whispered, and swung her right arm down, her zanpakuto going with it, and the huge bolt of lightning struck instantaneously. She let go of Kaminari's zanpakuto the instant it struck, and struggled to keep standing as the lightning stopped. She saw Kaminari's body fall to the ground and dispelled her mask while sealing her zanpakuto.

She couldn't hold up any longer and she began falling as well. Luckily enough, strong arms caught her and she opened her eyes, slipping in and out of consciousness, to see Hisagi looking at her.

"Thank god you're alright. I was worried." he said quietly, his tone showing how relieved he was.

"If you've got enough strength to be worried, get me a nice strong drink." she half-joked and huffed in amusement as he rolled his eyes.

"Come on, let's get you to the Fourth Division."

They got to the Fourth Division a few minutes later, and treatment started immediately. They both fell into a deep, calm sleep only moments after their heads hit the comfortable pillows...

 


	8. The Song That Thunder Sung

**Chapter 8: The Song That Thunder Sung**

As Siren woke the next day, faint sounds became more and clearer to her as she roused. Even in her half-asleep state, she noticed the presence of another person sitting next to her bedside and felt the warmth of her hand being held. She groaned irritably at the bright light that invaded her senses when she cracked open her eyes and blinked several times before her eyes adjusted. Everything quickly came into focus, and she turned her head to see Hisagi's happy face looking back at her, relief written on his face.

"Hey babe. How you feeling?" he said softly, and pressed a gentle kiss to the back of her hand.

"Ah, I'm fine. How are  _you_  feeling? Should you even be out of bed? You don't heal as fast as I do." she replied with a scolding tone and narrowed eyes, hoping that he wasn't going against what Unohana-san had said for him to do so he healed as quick as possible.

"I'm able to be out of bed. I'm fully healed, although I'm still a little bit sore. My injuries weren't that serious." he answered with a smile, glad that she was feeling well enough to scold him.

"When can I get out of here? I do really like not having to do work, but I'd prefer to be off drinking in a bar and not doing any work." she said laughingly and smirked when he rolled his eyes.

"Hell no. You aren't drinking anything until you are 100%. I don't care that your being part hollow helps you heal quickly. I'm not taking any chances on you getting sick or something." he said firmly, but tenderly, letting her know that he was going to make sure she was completely healed before she started her age old habit.

She smiled sweetly at him and let go of his larger hand that was holding hers and reached out as if she was going to run a hand through his hair, or stroke his cheek...only she didn't. She smacked him upside the head firmly with a mischievous smirk on her face and snorted in amusement when he glared at her, waiting for an explanation while he rubbed the sore spot gently.

"I'll do whatever the hell I want, thank you very much." she spoke firmly and turned her head away from him dramatically towards the window, only to turn it back when she heard someone coming towards the door.

"Excuse me, Siren-taicho, Hisagi-san. You are both free to go after a quick check up." Fourth Division fuku-taicho, Kotetsu Isane spoke up, and bowed to them both.

Siren opened her mouth and was about to tell her that the 'taicho' wasn't necessary when Hisagi fixed her with a stare that said ' _Don't even think about it. You've more than earned the right to be called by your title_ '. She rolled her eyes, and lolled her head to the side exaggeratedly when he got the message through, and even she couldn't deny that it wasn't too farfetched to say that she had done enough to be called captain in the time she had been back in Soul Society.

Isane checked Hisagi over briefly before checking Siren over as well, and Hisagi left, saying that there was probably tonnes of work to be done and that he was going to make a start on it. He thanked Isane, and said that he would see Siren later, and the lingering look he sent her way before walking out of the room didn't go unnoticed by her. It seemed that there was an unspoken promise between them to keep their relationship on the down low and it was lucky that Isane was too busy to notice.

Once the check-up was over, Siren thanked Isane and told her to thank Unohana-taicho as well. Isane bowed to her and said goodbye, and Siren changed into her shihakusho and haori and exited the Fourth Division, intending to go and visit her surrogate fathers who she hadn't been able to see much of lately, thanks to all her damn work. She had discovered that she did in fact enjoy her job, but the huge amounts of work that got piled on them sometimes became too much for her, even with the help of her ridiculously diligent Lieutenant.

While she was thinking, she strolled casually towards the Eighth Division, intending to find Nanao and ask if she knew where her captain was. Since it was beginning to get later in the afternoon, it was probably about the time that Shun was at some random bar, or he might even be with some of the members of his division drinking with the Eleventh Division, as they had been known to do from time to time.

It didn't take long for Siren to find Nanao, since she was in her office, more than likely doing her captain's work as well as her own, and Nanao informed her that he was with Ukitake at 'their favourite place to go on a nice day like today'. Siren instantly knew what that meant, and she thanked Nanao before heading to the place where she had met the two men all those years ago when she was still just a child.

She found them both strolling casually, talking to some of the Rukongai children who were asking about Ukitake's story 'Sogyo no Okotowari!' which he had told them about some time ago. The sight made her smile, and she knew that that was probably was she looked like when she saw them coming every week after she waited for them, while practising making balls of reiatsu to show them. One of the girls saw her and ran up to her with a bright smile on her face.

"Are you a shinigami, oneesan?" the young girl asked her happily with bright brown eyes, even though she struggled saying 'shinigami' a little bit.

"I sure am. Were you talking to my friends over there?" she replied with a kind smile, and gestured to the two men that had now taken notice of her, and smiled happily when they saw that she was doing okay.

"Yeah! Shiro is telling us more about his awesome story about Sogyo!" the girl exclaimed happily, and Siren chuckled faintly at her giving Ukitake the same nickname she did when she was a child. She already knew that the story was very popular with the children of the Seireitei, and it seemed that the Rukongai children enjoyed it as well.

"Is he now? Come on, I want to go and say hi." she laughed softly, and took hold of the girl's outstretched hand and walked with her over to stand in between the two older men, as the girl hugged her and ran off to play with her friends.

Siren crossed her arms as her white sleeveless Ninth Division haori flowed around in time with her hair as the wind blew. For an unknown length of time, they stood there, watching the children playing in silence, a smile on all their faces. The two older man glanced at each other briefly over the top of the smaller woman's head, and looked down to see her looking more peaceful than they ever had.

After about an hour of relaxation, they headed back to the Seireitei, where Siren was discovered by her black-haired fuku-taicho who was holding a huge stack of paper in his arms and looking a little annoyed. She sighed in knowing and took half the pile from his arms before saying goodbye to her 'fathers' and heading back to the office reluctantly.

Typical Hisagi. They'd only both just gotten out of the Fourth Division and he was already back into his workaholic ways. After three hours of writing things mechanically, signing various reports, reading through them, and of Siren complaining constantly, Hisagi finally gave up and said that they could finish all this tomorrow. He saw Siren smirk mischievously and rolled his eyes even though he was laughing inwardly knowing that she kept whining the whole time so he would eventually give up on trying to make her do so much work all at once.

They headed back to his place, as they usually did, and he cooked a nice dinner before they took it easy for a few hours until it was late enough for them to go to bed. Only this time Siren pulled out the guitar that he had found in the real world and played a few tunes while Hisagi sat and watched with eyes that only saw her. She really did sing beautifully, and she seemed quite happy strumming away on the musical instrument.

When she noticed how intently she was watching him, she got embarrassed and put the guitar away, despite his protests for her to continue. After some playful banter, Hisagi offered to clean up the dishes, and Siren went to shower. Even though the dynamics of their relationship had changed drastically and suddenly, they were completely comfortable with each other, as if they were still good friends, although the increased flirting, use of sexual innuendo and bodily contact made it obvious that they weren't 'just friends' anymore.

As she showered, various thoughts popped in her head. Siren wondered whether it was normal for her to sleep in his bed with him, since she'd never really done this kind of thing before. She'd only had 'experience' in one area of a relationship, and even then it was only once. She groaned mentally as she realised how soft she'd become. Being out of the Onmitsukido had made her feelings more accessible, since she didn't have to be as ruthless and cold-hearted any more.

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't hear the man who had been utilising some of her stealth training tips to sneak into the bathroom silently, and undress completely before she noticed and shook her head as he opened the door and stood behind her. He was glad that she hadn't killed him for invading her privacy so much, but he wanted to let her know that he felt completely comfortable with her. And besides, she'd been in the shower for twenty minutes now, and he wanted one too before he went to bed.

He put his arms around her waist, making sure to avoid 'accidentally' brushing any tempting places and they stood there under the water silently, just enjoying the simplicity and comfort of each other's company. It didn't take long for the warmth and after-effects of having full stomachs to make them drowsy and they finished bathing quickly, got out and dried off before walking out of the steam-filled room and straight into Hisagi's bedroom.

Glad for the need to actually be in his room, Siren quickly dressed in her under-garments and cheekily stole a large black shirt from out of Hisagi's hands and put it on. He smirked, and didn't bother getting another one out and just left on his under-garments and chuckled darkly before picking Siren up bridal-style and placing her down on his bed while she scrambled to get out of his hold, even though she secretly didn't want to.

When they were both laying down, he put his head on her chest and an arm around her waist and sighed contentedly when she absently began to stroke his hair with her small, pale hand as the other one curled around to rest on his shoulder. It was only natural that they fell asleep within moments...

_**1 YEAR SINCE SIREN RETURNED TO SOUL SOCIETY...** _

"It's a beautiful day." the first man said with his usual smile and carefree voice.

"It  _is_  a beautiful day." the second man repeated, his soft, kind tone showing his agreement.

"Couldn't have said it better myself." the third person spoke up, with a distinctively female voice.

The two older men, Ukitake Jushiro and Kyoraku Shunsui, the captains of the Eighth and Thirteenth Divisions, her fellow taicho, sat beside her as the sakura petals went floating past, catching on the wind that whipped through brown, white and black hair respectively. They had a few bottles of sake and a picnic, and were sitting happily in the Thirteenth Division's garden, just outside Ukitake's office.

It had been a few weeks since all three of them had gotten together and relaxed for a while, and they had luckily been given such a chance on a wonderfully peaceful day. The small woman, clad in Ninth Division shihakusho and the Ninth Division taicho haori sat in between them, watching the trees and flowers flow and sway gracefully in the wind. It really was a beautiful day.

"Ikazuchi-chan...You're finally happy, aren't you?" Ukitake said quietly, after seeing a genuine smile on her face that for once actually reached her vibrant green eyes. There was a long pause before the pale-skinned vizard replied in a soft voice that held a hint of enlightenment, as if she hadn't really realised until she had been told.

"Yeah...I guess I am...I never expected all of this when I first came back here a year ago. It's certainly thrown me for a loop." she laughed softly, and both men smiled and huffed in amusement. "But I don't think I'd have it any other way, lame as it sounds. I get to see you guys whenever I want, I have friends that I can hang out with, I have someone in my life, which is probably the most surprising one of all...I guess I kind of missed this place after all..." she trailed off, running out of things to say, and being a little embarrassed at her uncharacteristically sentimental and profound words.

"We didn't really expect it either. When Yama-jii called the captains for a meeting and Ukitake suggested that you become a captain, I don't think that any of us expected for him to accept the idea." Kyoraku spoke with a voice that recalled some of his shock from back then, and took a sip from his half-full cup.

"I'm glad Genryusai-sensei has let up a little more though." the brown-eyed man said with a smile, briefly remembering his days of being taught by the So-taicho.

"So am I. Obviously I wouldn't be here if he was still immovably resolute and what not." Siren agreed wholeheartedly, and drained the contents of her cup before Kyoraku filled it up for her. With a quick glance between the two, they smiled and shook their heads a little at the realisation that even though the old man may have changed, even if it was only a very small part of him, they certainly hadn't.

"It's good that the probational period is finally over as well. He should have released it after you and Hisagi-kun defeated those three arrancar, but I guess it was just for technicalities that he kept it going for a year." Ukitake brought up the topic that he had tried to convince the Captain-Commander to change his mind on several times, even though he did understand why he kept Siren on a probational period for so long.

"Definitely. I'm so glad I don't have to go and see him every damn week about my 'hollow training'. That was like thirty to forty-five minutes out of my day that I could have done something else with that was more constructive than telling him that everything was fine." the black-haired woman stated sharply with annoyance evident in her voice. "It's gotten so much better over the last few months as well, since I've been feeling so good. I don't have to drink so much to keep that side of me quiet. So I'm glad to avoid that now. It was a pain."

Both men smiled at her temper, but her logic was correct. She had trained with Shinji and the other vizards for several years, and had maintained control of her inner hollow for over thirty years, so it was safe to assume that it would be an almost impossible occurrence if should she actually lose control somehow. She was also able to train with the strongest members of the Gotei Thirteen using her mask to help them get stronger, as well as give Utsuro a chance to be used so she wouldn't annoy Siren so much throughout the week. Her favourite training session was with Soifon, and they beat the crap out of each other for hours on end, and had actually become rather good friends.

When the sun began to go down, and it got colder, Ukitake decided to head in and get some rest since he didn't sleep well the previous night. Kyoraku headed back to who knows where, although he was mostly going to track down his 'Nanao-chan' and annoy the poor girl as she tried doing the humongous work load that she had dumped upon her since her captain was too laid back to do it himself, while Siren had organised a night out for everyone and The House. As usual, it didn't take her long to get there, and she could hear the ruckus from a hundred metres away.  _Sounds like everyone is already here...noisy bastards.._ _._ she thought with amusement as she approached the huge place.

She was tempted to make some grand entrance just for the fun of it, but when the smell of good food and sake hit her nostrils for the second time that day, it took everything she had not to run in the door, and start stuffing her face. Very classy indeed. She opened the front door, and strolled in and the occupants of the room greeted her happily, some being already slightly intoxicated.

Kira was sitting on the couch talking with Matsumoto and Hisagi, and Iba, Renji, Ikkaku and Yumichika were all sitting around the same table. Before she sat down, she went and grabbed another large bottle of sake and refilled everyone's drinks and made a toast – just for the sake of making one - to it being one year since she got back here. The room was momentarily filled with everyone yelling 'Kanpai' and then went silent as they all drained their cups of liquid and slammed them down on the table exaggeratedly in satisfaction.

For the first part of the night, she chatted about everything from sunglasses with Iba and Renji, to random beauty products with Yumichika and Matsumoto, which was mostly a conversation that Siren just sat and looked between the two as they talked, kendo and martial arts with Ikkaku, and her and Kira talked about his various haiku that she had read whilst helping Hisagi out with work for the  _Seireitei Communication._

Throughout the night, she tried very hard to not make it bleedingly obvious that she really wanted to talk to Hisagi, but she couldn't help but look in his direction and catch his eye occasionally at random times when she heard him laughing or speaking. Matsumoto suddenly plopped down next to her on the couch and took the cup out of her hand and filled it up to the brim.

"Just go and talk to him already." she said in a hushed tone that wasn't quite a whisper.

"No, it's fine. I was with him most of the day. Besides, I can just talk to him later." the green-eyed woman replied stubbornly, staring defiantly into her female friend's big blue eyes.

"Whatever!" the blonde woman replied incredulously in a high-pitched voice. She already knew that Siren would cave and talk to him soon enough. Almost as if the heaven's had her thoughts, she heard Hisagi say something about him going to get another bottle of sake from the other room. "Sireennn, could you get another bottle of sake please?" she pleaded innocently, the phrase 'She's going to eat her words' running through her head as she spoke.

"I guess." Siren mumbled and stood up and headed towards the kitchen. She slowly strolled into the room with her hands in her pockets and Hisagi's form bending down slightly and reaching into one of the cupboards was the focal point of the room.

Her head tilted to the side a little, forgetting about what she had said to Matsumoto only moments ago, and enjoying the sight before her. That was until he stood back up to his full height with a bottle of sake in hand. He turned around to see her, and she made a small sound in the back of her throat, equivalent to her saying 'Busted!', and whirled her head away dramatically, but didn't move from the spot she was standing on, and simply stood there and looked at the floor pointedly.

He resisted the urge to chuckle and put down the bottle in his hand on the counter and sauntered up to stand in front of her, so that their clothes were touching, but there was no bodily contact. He could feel the warmth coming off her, the warmth he wanted next to him ever since she left the office earlier today saying that she was going to hang with Ukitake and Kyoraku.

They had taken a few liberties with keeping their relationship on the down low today. Usually they kept that stuff at home for the most part, but today was a little different...

_She was bending over the large desk with one elbow resting on it and her chin on her hands while her other hand flicked through pages as she checked over a report before she put it in the 'Completed' pile. When he saw the glorious sight of her toned rear up in the air, he just couldn't help himself. He crept up behind her, but allowed her to hear his steps so that she would know what he was doing, and lent over her and wrapped a long, muscular arm around her much smaller form._

_He used his free hand to gently tilt her head towards his, and caught her lips in a searing kiss. After a few moments, she began to push her bottom up towards his crotch area and he felt like all the air was knocked out of his lungs when it made contact with a particular spot. His head dropped to rest on her shoulder, and he heard and felt the vibrations of her chuckling faintly and she repeated the action. He tensed and stood back up, knowing that if he stayed there that something would have definitely gotten a little 'stiff' as such._

_Suddenly, their Third Seat opened the door and with flawless nonchalance, Siren walked over to him and took a completed report from his hands and thanked him before she shut the door and walked over to place the report on the desk and smirk suggestively at him as he stared back at her, shocked at how well she covered that up._

He abruptly realised that he'd just been standing there in his own world for at least a minute now, and Siren was still defiantly looking at the floor. A smirk came across his face and he leaned down to start laying kisses along her exposed neck and brought an arm up to wrap around her waist, but they both froze dead still as they heard someone say 'Oops' from behind Siren.

Siren turned her head around so she could look at whoever it was from the corner of her eye, and Hisagi's head peered over her shoulder to see the red-headed Sixth Division fuku-taicho trying very hard not to laugh at busting them. He already knew that these two had been together for ages, but none of their group had actually seen any physical evidence of it. Just then, Kira walked to stand next to Renji, and his eyes went wide at the sight before him, since Siren and Hisagi were still frozen, as if they were an elaborate statue placed right in the middle of the kitchen.

The blonde looked at Renji's face, which was still contorted with restrained laughter, and looked back to the couple who had been totally busted with eyes still widened. The other room's inhabitants seemed to notice the sudden silence and awkward aura coming from the kitchen and within moments Iba, Matsumoto, Ikkaku and Yumichika were all standing behind the other two and there was some 'Ah' sounds and glances between them all as they all shrugged and walked back to the other room.

Siren snapped out of it first, and shoved Hisagi away from her, utterly confused at what just happened. She stomped into the other room with a pointed gaze and looked them all over briefly before speaking.

"What was with that reaction? I was expecting relentless teasing... not shrugging and nonchalance." she said incredulously.

"That makes it sound like you think we didn't know all this time." Yumichika spoke up with a knowing tone to his voice. Siren's jaw dropped slightly at this revelation. How the hell did they know? Did Matsumoto tell them?

"H-how the hell do you all know?" she stuttered, thinking out loud.

"Well, maybe that's because it was totally obvious. I've known for certain ever since you had that huge fight ages ago. Before that, it was just speculation." Renji retorted and turned his head towards her to mock-glare at her, telling her that she should know better than to think he wouldn't pick up on it. "Though I do have to commend you for being able to keep us from seeing any proof of this for an entire year."

"You really knew the whole time? I thought Matsumoto was the only one that knew for sure..." she trailed off in defeat, and sighing when she realised that she should have known that her friends were much more perceptive than she gave them credit for.

"Siren, we've known the whole time, and we don't care. Just get more damn sake and keep drinking with us, damn it!" Renji said loudly in a mock-scolding tone even though he was smiling.

The black-haired vizard shook her head and snorted in amusement before moving off to the kitchen again. Hisagi was leaning back against the counter with his arms crossed over his chest and a small smirk on his face. No doubt he had every word that was spoken. She smiled and walked up to him and he pulled her into a quick embrace before they grabbed two more bottles of sake and walked back out to their friends.

Within moments, everyone was pouring liquid into their cups, talking and laughing again as if the past few minutes had never happened. The only sign of it was that Siren was sitting next to Hisagi on the couch, and he had an arm draped over her shoulders. A couple of hours later after many more bottles had been emptied and plates of food only left with crumbs, they all called it a night, and everyone headed off or stumbled into their rooms.

Even though everyone already knew, Hisagi and Siren still felt a little awkward walking to the same room. Hisagi entered first and Siren said goodnight to Renji before she was abruptly pulled into the room with a yelp by the black-haired man who shut the door behind her and held her close to him for a minute and pressed an affectionate kiss to her forehead before they laid down and sighed contentedly in unison as Hisagi pulled Siren closer to him, and she rested her head on his chest and draped an arm over his waist and a leg over his.

They both fell asleep with a happy smile on their face...

 


End file.
